Bonded-Battle City
by DarkQueenofDuels
Summary: Sabrina's journey continues when the Battle City tournament comes around. Only, a new threat will try to get their hands on the Millennium Puzzle and Pendant. Includes Virtual World arc. Yami x OC (8th Millennium Item). Second installment in the Bonded series.
1. Mystery Duelist

_I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!, I just own my characters Sabrina and Zaria._

I put on my school uniform and then start fumbling with the Pendant. I finally get that old rope off and replace it with a thin silver chain that glitters slightly. It certainly looks a lot better. _"So, Spirit, what do you think?"_

_She then appears next to me, "I guess its fine. A bit flashy though." She says._

"_Well its better than having an itchy old rope hanging from my neck."_

"_True."_

I grab my bag and walk out of my room and into Yugi's. "Hey Yugi, are you ready for school?" I ask.

"Yeah, hey, what do you think of the new chain?" he asks turning around. A huge thick metal chain holds the Puzzle around his neck.

"It's cool, but a bit thick."

"Well it's the best I could find."

"_I feel those chains will come in handy though. Fate will probably bring more people that want their hands of the Puzzle and Pendant. I only wish that we knew more about our memories to help though." _The Puzzle Spirit says.

The Pendant Spirit nods. "Well, then Yugi and I will help you guys figure it out." I say as we walk out the door. Both of the Spirits return to their Items soon after. Tea is waiting for us outside, "Hey guys." She says. We say goodbye to Grandpa and begin walking to school.

We begin walking through the downtown part when Yugi notices something. I follow his gaze to find a cloaked man with a crystal ball on a table next to him, "Futures told, fates unfold." He says. "Step up boy and I'll tell you your future."

Yugi walks up to the man. _I don't trust that guy, but he seems familiar. _"Sabrina, maybe this guy can tell us more about our Spirits." Yugi says.

"I don't know. But I guess if you want to, then make it quick." I say.

The man lifts his head toward the Millennium Puzzle, "Boy, in order to read your future, I must hold a personal item." He says. "Your necklace will do nicely."

"No, I'm sorry I can't." Yugi says.

"But then I can't properly read your fortune."

"But… err, alright, but only for a second." He says taking off the Puzzle. _I still don't trust any of this._

The man holds the Puzzle in his hands. "Hmm, something's coming to me… I see that this Millennium Item… now belongs to me!" he says running off with it.

"The Puzzle!" Yugi says quickly running after him.

"Sabrina, what should we do?" Tea asks.

"Um, um. You go get help; I'll help chase him down. HURRY!" I say. I decide to head in another direction and see if I can cut the guy off. I start running to the other side of the buildings, but once I'm there I don't find anything. _Crap!_

Now I'm just running all over the place trying to find a way to get to Yugi. _"Spirit, do you think you can sense the Puzzle Spirit?"_

"_I'll try." She says. _ I keep running in all different directions, hoping something will come up. _"I can feel a slight presence not too far from here. Just head forward." She says._

_Alright._ I keep running forward until I'm at an abandoned part of town. The area doesn't look very safe. I then come in front of a warehouse. _Could they be in here?_ As I walk closer to it, I can hear dueling arena sound effects. I don't know why, but I feel that Yugi is the one dueling. I open the fence gate and walk up to the door. I try to open the shed door, but it won't move so I try the smaller door on the side. This once opens more easily.

I open it up to find Yugi dueling… Bandit Keith!? _Since when is he after Millennium Items?!_ "Yugi, what's going on?" I ask.

Yugi turns around, "Someone is possessing Bandit Keith and trying to get my Millennium Puzzle!" he says. His attention them turns back to the duel, "Now I'll sacrifice my Curse of Dragon and Gaia the Fierce Knight to summon Gaia the Dragon Champion!"

Gaia the Dragon Champion then attacks Keith's Mechanicalchaser, bringing Keith to 1250 Life Points. "Very impressive little Yugi." Keith says. His voice is demonic and only has slight hints of his original. He then switches his Megasonic Eye into defense mode, and then plays Machine Conversion Factory which will increase the ATK of his machines by 300. He then uses Machine King to destroy Gaia and bring Yugi down to 1800 Life Points.

"Now I've made Keith's machines almost invincible, so why don't you just hand over your Puzzle now? It would make a nice conclusion to our game anyway." Keith says.

"Your machines may be good, but they're still made of metal! So I play Maiku the Magical Mist, which will decrease your machine's power by 300. Now they're the perfect lightning rod, which gives me the chance to summon my Summoned Skull!" Yugi says.

Summoned Skull attacks Machine King, bringing Keith to 500 Life Points. Keith activates Graceful Charity and then activates the Zera Ritual card, which allows him to tribute his Ground Attacker Bugroth and Magesonic Eye to summon Zera the Mant. Zera then attacks Summoned Skull and destroys it, bringing Yugi to 1500 Life Points. Yugi draws and sets one monster and ends his turn. Keith summons Seiyaryu in attack mode and places one card face-down, along with playing Stop Defense, which switches Yugi's Koumori Dragon into attack mode. Seiyaryu attacks Koumori Dragon, bringing Yugi to 400 Life Points.

Yugi sets another monster. Seiyaryu attacks that one also and destroys it. Keith places two more card face-down and ends his turn and switches Zera the Mant into defense mode. "Okay, first I'll play one card face-down and then summon Dark Magician in defense mode. And then finally I'll play my Magical Hats magic card to hide him!" Yugi says.

"Too bad, but I play Magic Jammer! And then I'll play Curse of Fiend, which will switch the battle positions of every monster on the field." Keith says. _So that's why he switched Zera into defense mode earlier! _ "Now Zera, attack!"

"Nice try, but I activate Mirror Force, which will bounce the attack right back at you!" Yugi says.

"I'll block that with Solemn Judgment!"

Solemn Judgment comes with the price of decreasing Keith's Life Points to 250. Zera continues the attack on Dark Magician, which brings Yugi to only 100 Life Points. Yugi then sets a monster and places one card face-down. "I'll play Tribute to the Doomed! It allows me to destroy any monster on your side of the field!" Keith says.

"Think again, I activate the Living Arrow! This will fire any Magic attack right back at you!" Yugi says. Zera the Mant is then destroyed.

I then look over at Keith who looks different now. "Where am I?" he says. _Was he freed from whoever was controlling him? _Yugi doesn't seem to notice this though, "Now it's time for me to end this duel and win back my Millennium Puzzle!" he says.

"Yugi Muto! What are you doing here!?" Keith says. He then bursts into a scream, "There's someone inside my head! Shut up and duel! Go away!" he shouts as if he was talking with himself.

"Keith whose controlling you!?" Yugi asks.

His answer is just a bunch of screams and phrases such as "Go away!". He then runs onto the dueling field and reaches the Millennium Puzzle, "If I can't have this Puzzle, then no one can!" he says as he smashes the Puzzle.

"NO!" Yugi and I say in unison.

Keith continues with the screaming, when all of the sudden Bakura shows up and kicks Keith off the field. Now Keith finally shuts up. "Bakura, where'd you come from?" I ask as I step onto the arena.

"Tea told me what happened, so I came here to check it out." He says.

The three of us then start picking up the pieces of the Millennium Puzzle, "Man, Keith really did a number to your Millennium Puzzle, but better shattered than stolen I suppose." Bakura says.

"Yeah, I guess so. It took me years to complete this the first time, but I might have a better chance the second time around." Yugi says.

Yugi walks up to the Puzzle and stares at it for a minute. "Oh Yugi, I'm afraid you missed with one piece." Bakura says giving it to him.

"Oh, thanks Bakura. Maybe you should head back to school now." Yugi says.

"Yeah, I'll see you there." He says walking out the door.

Now Yugi and I are left in here. I try yanking at the pole holding the chain of the Puzzle, but it won't budge. Keith then wakes up again and continues with the screaming, "Whoever you are, leave me alone!" he says. He grabs a pole and starts swinging it around him.

"Keith, stop it!" I say.

He doesn't stop though. He ends up hitting a fuse box, and then runs out. The electricity coming from the fuse box sparks around until part of the building catches on fire. _Crap! _With that done, I start yanking the chain even more, but it still won't move. "We've got to hurry! This fire is spreading like crazy!" Yugi says.

"Just get out of here, and I'll keep trying to free it!" I say yanking on the chain more.

"No, I can't just leave you here to die!"

"If you stay, you'll meet the same fate!" I say. My hands are starting to burn slightly, since the metal of the chain is getting too hot.

"I don't care! I'll just have to try and put the Puzzle back together, and then maybe the Spirit will survive!"

I'm not sure of this at first, but I agree. It would be better if the Spirits survived. I hold all of the pieces, which are also growing warmer, while Yugi starts trying to put them into place. "No pressure Yugi, but this fire is getter bigger by the minute!" I say.

"Y-yeah, I'm on it." He says.

The two of us start coughing and getter dizzy from the lack of oxygen, but we still stay. Now flaming pieces of wood are raining from the sky and landing almost on top of us. I hear a loud crash, but think nothing of it, "Okay Yugi, just a few more pieces." I say as I almost lose my balance.

"Yugi! Sabrina!" I hear behind us. I look through blurry vision to see Joey and Tristan below the dueling arena. "Come on you guys! We've got to get out of here!" Tristan says.

"Yugi has to finish the Millennium Puzzle! We have to save the Spirit of the Puzzle!" I shout.

I hand Yugi the final piece, which he puts into place. "Yes!" Yugi says. I go to tug on the burning hot chain again, but it still won't move. Joey and Tristan walk up next to us and move Yugi out of the way, since he's almost about to faint.

Joey and I start yanking at the chain and fiddling with it as Tristan grabs Yugi's deck from the dueling platform. I look over through my blurry eyes and notice a pole on the ground, "Hey Joey, g-grab that pole r-right down t-there." I say pointing.

He grabs it and start hitting the chain with it, "N-no, don't do th-that. Put it through the h-hole." I say.

"Oh, right, that would work." He says putting the pole into place. Joey and I start pulling, until finally the chain comes out.

"A-alright..." I say. That was the last thing I remember though. I must've passed out and then was taken to the hospital, because that's where I woke up.

I wake up in a bed and look over to see Yugi asleep in the one next to me. My skin feels red-hot and is sore all over. "Hey Sabrina, your awake!" Joey says.

"Yeah, did we free the Puzzle? And is Yugi okay?" I ask.

"Yugi's fine, he's just taking a nap. He woke up about half an hour ago. And luckily, we did end up freeing the Puzzle, and it only cost Tristan and I some minor burns. But, of course, you and Yugi's burns were more severe than ours." Joey says.

I look at my hands and notice there are bandages wrapped around them, along with more bandages on my cheeks, arms, and legs. _This was only a small price to pay though._ "Anyway, I just want to thank you guys for saving Yugi and I. Plus, the Millennium Puzzle." I say.

"No problem, at least we can consider ourselves heroes now!" Tristan says.

"Yeah, and for your reward, you guys can have my hospital food." I say.

"Alright!" the both say.

As I watch them eat, I can't help but have a ton of things on my mind. _I wonder who was controlling Keith? And will we ever see him again? Of course we will. Only next time, we'll be ready for him. We'd be best to protect the Items with everything we've got._

**Yay! I started Season Two! Can't wait for the next chapter!**


	2. The Date

After staying in the hospital for a day, Yugi and I were finally released this morning. I can't sleep right now, so I just stare at the Pendant. _I can't believe that entire thing happened. But now that it's over, I'm just glad Yugi and I are alright._

_"Yes, but this will never be truly over. I feel that same man will keep returning." The Pendant Spirit says._

_"Then what are we supposed to do?" I ask her._

_"The best thing to do is wait and see how it plays out. After that, we'll be able to come up with a plan of attack. But for now, you should just focus on sleeping."_

_"Yeah, but I feel like a total wimp. I almost died all because of a stupid fire."_

_"But don't forget that it was your intelligence that saved the Spirit of the Puzzle. You're the bravest girl I've ever met. And what makes you truly brave, was the way that you never left Yugi's side during that fire. Just trust me on this one."_

_"I guess you're right."_

I go to sleep soon after. As Yugi and I walk to school the next day, Yugi seems to have something on his mind, but when I ask what it is, he ignores me. The rest of the school day goes by slowly, but eventually the school day comes to an end. I stand by the doorway and watch as rain pounds down to the ground. _Great and I didn't bring an umbrella._

Yugi then walks up to me, "Hey Sabrina, you ready to go home?" he asks.

"Yeah, I guess the rain won't be too bad." I say.

I take a step forward, but Yugi stops me. "What is it Yugi?" I ask.

"Well, I err, need to ask you something."

"Sure, what is it?"

"Would you go on a date with the Spirit of the Puzzle?"

"WHAT!?"

"Well, I didn't mean it that way. I just thought that maybe if you showed him around town, maybe we could learn more about both of our Spirit's past. So, do you mind it?"

"I guess not. If it will give us more answers about the Spirits, then I'll go. I'm pretty sure the Pendant Spirit will be quite pleased though." I say chuckling.

The two of us walk home and try to work out the plans for tomorrow. We don't know of any places in the city that could help us, but we decide it's still worth a try. We decide to meet at the center of town, even though we live in the same house, we don't know when the other will be ready. After about an hour, I decide to go to bed. My sleep went surprising well though.

The next morning, I get up and start looking through my closet. Unfortunately, I never really had fancy clothes, but then again, this is a date, not a wedding. _"Hey Spirit, since you're the one who actually likes the Puzzle Spirit, what should I wear?" I ask her._

_Her face turns pink slightly, but she tries to hide it, "I don't know. Wear a skirt or something." She says._

_I stop at the word 'skirt', "I haven't worn a skirt since I was little."_

_"So? You're bound to have one somewhere."_

_"Fine, I'll look for one."_

I start rummaging through my closet to try to find a skirt that the Pendant Spirit apparently wants to wear, until I find one. It's a short black one that reaches to my mid-thigh. I put it on and wear a red t-shirt that has a turtle neck. "What do you think?" I ask the Spirit as I put my hair back into a ponytail.

_"It looks nice. I can't wait for this date!" she says._

_"Yeah, because you LIKE the Puzzle Spirit!"_

_"Oh, shut up."_

I put on a pair of black flats, top it off with the Pendant on my neck and walk downstairs. I walk into the Game Shop area to see Grandpa cleaning off the counter, he looks up at me and notices my outfit, "Since when do you wear skirts?" he asks

"I'm just going out for a walk. What can a girl not look nice around town?" I say.

He looks skeptical, "Alright, have fun with your 'walk'." He says.

I try to get out of the Shop as fast as possible. _That was close._ I make my way to the fountain in the center of town and wait there. I feel totally ridiculous standing here, but it's something I'll have to live with. Eventually, I see Yugi running towards the fountain, but he stays a distance away from me. "Alright Spirit, this is where you take over." Yugi says.

The Puzzle glows and the Other Yugi is there. He looks around for a moment, and then realizes what's going on, "What the-? Yugi, this isn't a duel!" he says shouting to the Puzzle. I can't help but laugh, which now he notices me, "Oh, uh, hi." He says.

"Yeah. Listen, I'm going to guide you around town today. So just follow me." I say.

He shrugs and we start walking around town. I decide to go into a card shop to get a change of cards from the ones Gramps has. We pick out a few packs that contain pretty good cards in them and then leave.

As we start walking around town more, I hear the Pendant Spirit, _"Sabrina, am I allowed to have some fun? I'm sick of being inside the Pendant." She whispers._

I look over to Other Yugi and see that he's not paying attention, "_Alright. Have fun with your 'boyfriend'." I say._

~Yami Sabrina~

"Hello." I say.

He looks up, "Oh, hi. Nice to see you." He says.

"Same here." I say hugging him.

He returns the hug, and after, we start walking, hand in hand. The two of us get bored, so we decide to stop walking near a pier that overlooks the ocean. We stand there for a few minutes and stare out into the ocean. I sigh deeply, "What is it?" Other Yugi asks.

"I just wish this town actually had something to help us. I mean, I know our origin comes from Egypt, but this isn't exactly Egypt." I say.

"I know what you mean. There are still so many unanswered questions that we want to know."

"But, we'll figure it out together." I say kissing him.

After that big stream of emotion, we decide to walk around more. As we walk, I notice a flier on a post, "Hey look at this." I say.

He looks over, "What?"

"This flier. It says there's a new Ancient Egypt exhibit at the museum, which is just down there." I say pointing.

A smile grows across his face, "Then why are we standing here? Let's go!" he says practically dragging me forward.

We enter the museum and start walking. There are tablets and jewelry all on display, but nothing that will help us. I look up ahead and notice a doorway with rope in front of it and an arrow pointing in another direction. "What about that door? Do you think there's something in there?" I say.

"I don't know. But it's a restricted area." He says.

"So? I feel the Pendant is almost telling me to go inside. It must hold some pretty good secrets." I say walking toward it. As we approach the door, I look around to make sure no one will notice, and then slip inside.

There's a dark staircase leading down into the basement. I begin walking down it, with Other Yugi on my trail. We come to a room that is brightly lit up with some tablets against the back wall. My eyes focus more on one of them which has a man playing some kind of Ancient Duel Monsters with… Yugi!? "Whoa! This defiantly gives some clues." I say.

"Whoa, and look at his neck, he has the Millennium Puzzle!"

My eyes wonder over to another, smaller tablet next to it. It has a picture of a girl of some kind of royal ranking holding a bundle of blankets, which must be a baby in her arms and a giant dragon coiled around her, almost like it obeys her. "Is it just me, or does that girl resemble Sabrina?" I say.

He looks over at it, "I think it does." He says.

"And your right. I've been expecting you." A woman's voice says. I turn around to see a woman with long black hair, blue eyes, tan skin, and a long white dress.

"Who are you?" I ask.

"I am Ishizu. I have uncovered many mysteries about you two with the magic of my Millennium Necklace." She says.

"Another Millennium Item?" Other Yugi says looking to the gold necklace around her neck. "Like the Puzzle and Pendant, my Item grants me certain powers. With it, I have gazed five thousand years into the past, a time when evil threatened to destroy the entire world." Ishizu says. "But, there was one King who possessed the power to lock the magic away."

"And who was this King?" Other Yugi asks.

"That Pharaoh was you Yami. And the time has come for you to rescue mankind once again."

"How do you know that it's going to be destroyed again?"

"My Millennium Necklace also shows visions of the future. My Pharaoh… that same evil will come and destroy the world once again."

"Okay, but that doesn't answer who this girl is." I say pointing to the tablet.

"That's you. Some people referred to her as Nefertari, but her name wasn't fully known." Ishizu says.

My eyes widen. _So that's my name?_ "Okay, but who's the baby in her arms?" I ask.

"That's her and the Pharaoh's daughter."

_Did she just say daughter? We had a daughter!? _Both of our eyes widen, "D-daughter?" we both say.

"Yes, she was a respected ruler. But I'm afraid those are the only answers I may give now. But I will tell you a Duel Monsters tournament will take place soon, you'll both receive an invitation."

Before we can object, she leaves the room. _So our names are Yami and Nefertari. _"So, we were married before?" I ask him

"I guess so. I guess that's why we had such a liking for each other when we were summoned by the Items."

"Yeah."

"I just feel better knowing that. And even better now that we actually know our names."

"Yes, but she said they were alternate names. They were names made up by some archeologist or something. But mine seems a bit long."

"Then shorten it. If you name if Nefertari, then how about I just call you Ari?"

"I can live with that. And what did she say about a tournament? Something about invitations waiting for us?"

"Yes, we better go check it out."

With that said, we exit the museum and head back to the Game Shop, wondering what this tournament will be.

**Yay, the date episode! I kind of focused less on the date in general and worked more on the overall past description. And I'm sorry if Yami seemed slightly OC.**


	3. Battle City

~Ari~

Yami and I go back to the Game Shop in hopes of finding the invitation. We enter to find that Yugi's Grandfather looking at some cards on the counter, "Oh, nice of you to return!" he says.

I'm not sure how to answer that, so I just cut to the question Yami and I both want to know, "Yeah, but did an invitation or anything come today?" I ask.

"Hmm… not that I know of. Maybe they sent it while I was doing errands." He says.

"Okay, thanks." I say as the two of us go upstairs.

I decide the best place to start is for us to look in Yugi and Sabrina's bedrooms. So Yami goes into Yugi's, and I go into Sabrina's. I open the door to find things just as they were this morning; clothes across the bed and the closet wide open. I then look over to a note on the desk. I open the blank envelope to read the letter, it says;

_Sabrina Cafford,_

_We are glad to inform you that you have been invited to a Duel Monsters tournament. The tournament will take place in Domino City. For further information, please head to Domino Square at 7 pm. Thank you for your cooperation._

I look at the clock on the wall; it says 6:41 pm. I walk out of the room and walk into Yugi's room where Yami is finishing reading the letter he got. "We better get down to the square." I say.

He nods and the two of us go back downstairs. Yugi's Grandfather is still at the counter, "Oh, leaving so soon?" he says.

"We got an invitation to a tournament. We'll be back soon." Yami says opening the door.

The two of us leave and head for the square. We make it there just in time to see tons of duelist standing around. "Well Ishizu was right about one thing." I say.

"I'm not sure if she's correct about everything. But I do know that I need to enter this tournament and win." Yami says.

"Yes, but don't forget, I'm here to."

"Yeah, how could I forget?"

I then sense something. I realize that this presence is the same one whose been wanting the Puzzle and Pendant, "You feel that to right?" I say.

"Yes, but now that feeling is just… gone"

"Oh hey guys! I didn't expect to see you two here!" a woman says. I look over to see Mai Valentine running toward us. _Oh, joy._ "It's nice to see you two again!" she says.

"Uh huh…" I say.

She then almost locks me in a headlock, "Your looking snazzy today. You two aren't on a date are you?" Mai says.

Personally, I guess I would count this as a date, but I really wouldn't admit to it. "I wouldn't count it as a date, Mai. Friends can hang out together and still look nice right?" I say. I wink at Yami to say that I don't mean the 'friends' thing, since it's kind of more than that. I just don't want Sabrina and Yugi to be in an awkward place.

"Sure, if you say so." Mai says releasing her headlock on me. I grab my throat and gasp for air.

"So, I'm guessing you're here for the tournament?" Yami says changing the subject.

"Yes, and I'm guessing that's the reason you guys are here to."

"Yeah, but do you know whose hosting it?" I ask.

"I have no idea. Everyone I spoke to got an anonymous invitation. But the rumor is that the host is someone with a boat-load of cash and a horrible attitude."

"Gee, I'm wondering who that could be." I say sarcastically. Following that description, I'm about 97% sure that the host is Kaiba. "It's obviously Kaiba." I say.

"That must be why Ishizu had us enter this tournament! If the past will occur again then I must face Kaiba!" Yami says.

Mai looks sort of puzzled, "What on earth are you mumbling about? Anyway, we can be sure the host isn't Pegasus." She says.

"Yeah, but this place still looks a ton like Duelist Kingdom. I mean, look over there." I say.

"Yeah, that's Rex Raptor and Weevil Underwood. Also there's Mako Tsunami. And over there is this guy named Espa Roba, they say he uses psychic powers to duel." Mai says.

"And there's our host." I say pointing to a TV screen. Kaiba's face seems to be taking over each screen around town right now.

"Greetings duelists, welcome to the town of Domino. But more importantly, welcome to my tournament." Kaiba says. _Geez, can his ego get any bigger?_ "I see you each received your private invite to Kaiba Corps exclusive Duel Monsters tournament. And you had enough brains to show up here tonight. Being that you are all elite duelists, I've added special rules to my tournament just for experts. For example, you will duel using these new and improved Duel Disks."

The camera lowers so we can see a Duel Disk on Kaiba's left forearm. It's larger than the original one he had in Duelist Kingdom and probably a lot less confusing to operate. "Another new rule that I designed for this tournament, is that before each duel each player will bet on their rarest card. And the loser will forfeit their card to the winner." Kaiba says. _Forfeit Divine Queen!?_ "My competition will make Pegasus and his Duelist Kingdom tournament look like a joke." The screen then goes blank with the Kaiba Corp logo on it.

I wind then starts above us. I look up to see a helicopter with Kaiba standing on the edge of it. He's wearing a different trench-coat from the last time we saw him. This time, he wears a long white one and is wearing all black underneath it. "Don't forget to register and pick up your Duel Disk, because in exactly one week, my Battle City tournament begins!" he says.

~Sabrina~

A few days have passed by, and it's almost time for the tournament. School was having a break the past few days, so now everyone is heading back. During our morning recess, the gang and I meet up on the roof to discuss Battle City.

"You can't be serious! That big punk Kaiba is throwing a big tournament and I wasn't invited!?" Joey shouts.

"Well, Kaiba doesn't exactly like you, you know. He probably hates you more than he hates Yugi. And besides, he probably wants you to feel angry about it, for his enjoyment." I say.

"Yeah, but still! Third place in Duelist Kingdom and I get nothing! Even Mai is more popular in the dueling world than I am, and she came in fourth place!"

"Just stop complaining! You miss out on one tournament; it's not the end of the world."

"Fine. But are you going to enter Yugi?" Joey asks. _What kind of question is that! Of course we're entering!_

"Of course, this tournament will be the only way for me to realize my destiny." Yugi says.

"You're destiny?" Joey says.

"It's a long story, but I'll sum it up for you. Some evil force is coming back from the past and it's my job to defeat it once again."

"Then it will be my destiny to help! With none other than Red-Eyes Black Dragon!"

"So you changed your mind again, and now you're going to enter Kaiba's tournament?" Tristan says.

"Of course! And with this baby in my deck, I'll squish any force that comes near me!" Joey says kissing the Red-Eyes card. "Isn't that right Red-Eyes? Who's going to help me kick some major Kaiba butt?"

_Okay, Joey is officially weirding me out now._ "But didn't you learn your lesson the last time you got your butt kicked by Kaiba?" Tea says.

"Yeah, Red-Eyes is powerful, but it doesn't stand anywhere near Kaiba's Blue-Eyes." I say. "And besides you're going to have to get used to the new Duel Disk."

"But even the old ones were too advanced for me! It cost me that duel!"

"But you're still a much better duelist then you were then Joey. You should probably just start practicing with the new Duel Disk." Yugi says.

The rest of the school day passes by rather quickly. After school, we all head straight to the registration office. We enter the office to find a man behind a counter with a computer next to him, "May I be of some assistance?" he says.

"Yeah, we came here to register for the Battle City tournament and get our Duel Disks." Yugi says.

"Then this is the right place. You're lucky that I have three Duel Disks left." The man says. "Names please?"

"Yugi Muto." Yugi says.

The man types in his name on the computer and turns the screen around so we can see it. On the screen, is a picture of Yugi, his Dark Magician, and five stars below. "Where does this information come from?" I ask.

"Kaiba Corp did research on some of the biggest duelists around the world, and compiled them into a database. To see that each duelist is qualified, Mister Kaiba has gone through the list himself. This shows your ranking and rarest card used in a duel. Next please?"

"Sabrina Cafford." I say.

He types in my name and turns the screen so we can see. I have five stars like Yugi, and Divine Queen is next to my name. "Very good, you also qualify. And since you two do, I'm allowed to grant you with this." He says holding out two boxes for the Duel Disk.

"Wow, thanks." I say as Yugi and I take the boxes.

Joey then shoves us aside, "I'd like to register too. My name's Joey Wheeler." He says.

The man types in the name and turns the screen so we can see. His rarest card is Red-Eyes Black Dragon and he has a one star ranking. _I knew that would happen._ "That can't be! Kaiba fixed those results! I'm going to kill him!" Joey yells.

"Joey calm down! Quit spazzing!" Tristan says holding him back from rampaging.

"Oh! I'm sorry Mister Wheeler, but it appears that my hard drive was malfunctioning. It appears that you have four stars. Congratulations, you qualify." The man says.

"Aw yeah! I knew dat computer was wrong! Now come to papa!" Joey says grabbing his Duel Disk box.

We then exit the shop and start walking home. "Oh, guys I have to get going. Serenity's eye operation is tomorrow. I told her I'd stay at the hospital with her tonight." Joey says.

"Okay, wish her luck from us Joey. I'm sure it will go smoothly." Yugi says.

"Alright, later guys!" Joey says running off.

The rest of us then depart. Yugi and I head back to the Game Shop and go to sleep. The next morning, I wake up and head down to the kitchen. I notice that Yugi isn't awake yet, so I just start eating a piece of toast. I then hear the phone ring.

I walk over and answer it, "Hello?" I say.

_"Oh, hello, is this the home of Yugi Muto?" a woman says_

_"Yes."_

_"Oh, okay, this is Mrs. Wheeler, Joseph's mother. Have you seen him?" she says kind of frantically._

_"No, the last time we saw him was last night. Why, did something happen?"_

_"Yes, he didn't show up at the hospital last night."_

_"What!? Don't worry, Mrs. Wheeler, we'll start looking for him right away!" I say hanging up the phone._

Run upstairs as fast as I can to Yugi's room, "YUGI! YUGI! OPEN THE DOOR!" I yell pounding on it. I hear a large _thud_ and then I open the door. I find Yugi lying on the floor, rubbing his eyes.

"What is it? Can't a guy sleep in?" he says.

"NO YOU CAN'T! Listen, Mrs. Wheeler called and said Joey never showed up at the hospital. SO GET OFF YOUR BUTT AND LET'S START LOOKING FOR HIM!" I yell.

"WHAT!? J-just give me a minute to get dressed. I run out of the room and start getting my clothes on. I don't have time to put on anything special, so I just put on a white tank top and a pair of jeans. I quickly put my hair into a ponytail and rush downstairs. Yugi comes downstairs a minute later, "Don't worry, I called Tea and told her. She's going to call Tristan." He says.

"Alright." I say walking outside.

Tea shows up first, and Tristan comes a second later on a motorcycle. "What should we do?" Tea says.

"We should split up. Tristan will cover more ground on his motorcycle, while the rest of us go on foot." I say.

"Right!" the rest of them say.

I start by checking some of the narrow alleyways, but find nothing. I then continue my search near most of the downtown areas, but still nothing. All of us meet downtown, but Tea, Yugi, and I haven't found anything. Tristan then zooms past us on his motorcycle, "Hey look what I got!" he says as he passes us.

"Hey! He's got Joey! And he's okay!" Yugi says.

With Joey okay, Tea, Yugi and I head to the Game Shop. We just sit around and watch TV, until the phone rings again. "I'll get it." Yugi says walking into the other room. "Hello? What's that Joey? Serenity's operation went well? That's awesome!"

_I'm glad for Joey._ Yugi continues talking on the phone for a minute, and then hangs up. "Well?" I say.

"He also said that these three guys took his Red-Eyes card. I think they may be involved with that guy who was controlling Keith." Yugi says.

"There's probably no doubt." I say.

**Sorry, I haven't updated in the last two days, but I got really lazy. I will probably post the next chapter later on today, it depends though.**


	4. Exodia Returns

Today's the big day. Battle City will officially begin. I get out of bed early and start working on my deck. I put some of the cards I bought when I was on that 'date' with Yami into my deck, and remove some that are less powerful. But, I still respect each of them. _"Ari, what do you think?" I ask her sincee she was watching me build my deck._

_"It will do nicely. It will defiantly help us get through Battle City." She says._

_"Yep. But wait, if these guys that want the Millennium Items are as good as they say they are, then what if we can't beat them?"_

_"You just have to give faith. I'm sure no matter what, we'll win this thing. But first, you might want to think about getting dressed."_

_"Oh, right, I forgot I still have my pajamas on."_

Ari then goes back inside the Pendant as I change clothes. I put on a white tank top, a t-shirt that exposes my neck area and my shoulders, a pair of dark skinny jeans, my black and white sneakers, and a purple belt that will hold my deck. I fix my hair back into a ponytail and put on the Pendant to complete the outfit. I then grab my Duel Disk and deck and then exit my room.

I walk into Yugi's room to see him wearing his school uniform (as always) and him putting on his Duel Disk. "Are you ever going to wear something besides that uniform?" I say.

"Hey, this isn't the exact uniform. I'm only wearing the jacket. The rest of this is from my closet." Yugi says. He wears blue leather pants, a black tank top, black leather shoes, the Millennium Puzzle, and a blue belt to hold his deck.

"Fine, well, let's just get going." I say.

He follows me out of the room. We walk downstairs to see Grandpa wiping off the counter in the shop area. "I'm closing the shop early today so I'll be able to see you two duel. I'm sure you'll both do great!" he says.

"Thanks Gramps. We'll see you later!" I say as we walk out the door.

Yugi and I walk over to Domino Square, since the tournament will officially begin there. There are crowds of duelists standing around. Yugi starts looking at the clear card we got with the Duel Disk; it has a small puzzle-like piece in the middle. I have mine in my pocket. "I wonder what these pieces are for. They look like they could be a map." Yugi says.

"Maybe they're like the Battle City version of starchips. We probably have to collect more of them." I say.

"Maybe."

"Oh hey guys!" Mai says running toward us. "Won't this tournament be fun? I wonder whose butt I should kick first."

"Nice to see you too, Mai." I say sarcastically.

"Hey Yugi! I thought I'd see you buzzing around here!" an annoying voice says. I look over to see Rex and Weevil walking toward us._ This tournament really didn't need to be any uglier._ "We're going to mop the floor with you guys this time! So, don't act so smug since you won Duelist Kingdom." Weevil says.

Mako Tsunami then shows up and the three of them start yelling at each other about whose going to win this tournament. "Geez those guys are nerds." I whisper to Yugi.

"I suppose." He says.

Weevil, Rex, and Mako then run off somewhere in frustration. "Well, I better head off guys. But next time we meet, we're rivals." Mai says.

"Alright, see you later Mai." Yugi says as she walks off.

Yugi and I walk around a bit until Seto Kaiba's cold voice is heard all around us, "Greetings duelists, welcome to Battle City." He says.

"Wait, where's his voice coming from?" I ask.

As if to answer my question, a huge blimp shows up overhead with a huge TV screen (that features Kaiba's face on it) on the bottom of it. "It's time to put your dueling skills to the test. I hope none of you entered my tournament looking for friendly competition. Battle City's going to be an all-out war. Before my Battle City tournament begins, I thought I'd all let you know what you're in for, in case you want to back out now. Let's begin with my new Duel Disks; everyone who I decided who was good enough to enter received one. With it, you can duel anytime, anywhere. And they come with a tracking chip that allows me to watch every move you make." Kaiba says.

_Man, Kaiba seems a bit paranoid. Does he really need to see our every move? _ "Next, let's talk about the most important tournament rule. The loser of each duel is required to forfeit their rarest card to the winner. If you don't have the guts to risk losing your precious card, then I suggest you forfeit now. And anyone who is foolish enough can challenge me to a duel, because I'll also be competing in this tournament." Kaiba says. _That figures._ "But don't get your hopes up, because I intend to win. And there's one duelist out there who I can't wait to defeat. And speaking of winning, only eight of you will make it to the finals. These finals will be held in a hidden location. In order to find it, you'll need these Locator Cards. You each received one with your Duel Disk, but don't get too excited, because you'll need six of them to get into the finals. Every time you win a duel, you get a Locator Card from your losing opponent, when found all six they produce a map of Battle City, which will then transmit the location to you. Everything I just said can be found in my tournament rule book, but remember, only one duelist will win and claim the title #1 Best Duelist in the World! Now let the tournament begin!" he says.

_Geez, I thought he'd never shut up._ I then look around and hear Joey yelling not too far away, "Hey Yugi, I can hear Joey over there. Let's go check it out." I say.

We run over to see Joey yelling at a tall and slender man, who wears dark colors and a purple cape. "That's the guy who took my Red-Eyes!" Joey says.

I notice that the man's cape is very similar to the one Bandit Keith wore when he was controlled_. Either that's the guy we're looking for, or he works for him._ "They call themselves Rare Hunters, and this one owes me a rematch!" Joey says.

"I already told you that you have nothing that I want anymore. But perhaps the great Yugi Muto would be interested in being my next victim. So I challenge Yugi Muto to a duel!" the man says.

~Ari~

"Fine, I accept your challenge! Do we have a deal Rare Hunter? And if you lose, then you must return Joey's Red-Eyes Black Dragon!" Yami says.

"Then let's get on with the hunt already. The sooner I get my prize, the better! And Joey Wheeler, don't even think about revealing my strategy, or else I'll tear your Red-Eyes to pieces." The man says.

The Duel Disks shoot out the Holo Imagers and changes form so it has slots for each card we play. This duel will have Battle City rules; 4000 Life Points each, if you have no monsters on the field, then you can attack Life Points directly, and monsters with 5 or more stars have to be Tribute Summoned. Yami begins his turn by placing two cards face-down and summoning Beta the Magnet Warrior in attack mode. The Rare Hunter plays Graceful Charity, but Yami activates Light of Intervention, which will stop any monster on the field from being set. Rare Hunter then summons Stone Statue of the Aztecs in face-up defense mode.

"I now sacrifice my Beta to summon Berfomet, and he's able to bring Gazelle the King of Mythical Beasts from my deck to my hand. Now, I'll use my Polymerization card to fuse them together, creating Chimera the Flying Mythical Beast! For now, I play one card face-down and end my turn." Yami says.

"Then I'll play another Graceful Charity. And lastly, I play Gear Golem the Moving Fortress." The Rare Hunter says. He has a huge grin on his face, which is never a good sign.

"Yugi! I've had enough! I can't have you risk your Dark Magician for me!" Joey says.

"That's enough Joey! Your my friend and I'm fighting this duel for you, just as your would do for me. Do you remember when my Exodia cards were lost in the ocean? You risked your life to save them, not just because they were rare, but because I was a friend in need." Yami says. _Of course! Exodia! That's why this Rare Hunter is burning through his deck like that. _Yami seems to notice it also now, "I'm onto you! You're planning to summon Exodia the Forbiddin One!"

"But just because you know, doesn't mean it will stop me from succeeding!" Rare Hunter says.

Yami draws and places one card face-down on the field and has Chimera attack Stone Statue. The Rare Hunter is about to draw, until Yami activates Time Skip, which will skip the Hunter's draw phase, so the Hunter passes. Yami then activates Lightforce Sword, which pierces the Right Arm of Exodia. He also sacrifices Chimera to summon Summoned Skull and has it attack/destroy the Hunters defense mode monster. The Hunter then activates Swords of Revealing Light. Yami passes his turn. The Hunter draws and passes.

Yami plays one card face-down and summons Alpha the Magnet Warrior in attack mode. "But you still can't attack!" Hunter says.

"Yes, but I can wait for your Swords to wear off. You've filled your deck with so many Exodia pieces, that you lack balance and the right cards to protect your Life Points." Yami says.

"I summon Exodia's head in defense mode!"

"That's exactly the move I wanted you to make. You activated my Trap Card; Chain Destruction! Now it will destroy every copy of Exodia's head that you own! You you can no longer summon all five pieces from your hand. And I'll also play Dust Tornado to destroy your Swords of Revealing Light. Next I'll play Monster Reborn to bring back Chimera."

Chimera destroys the head of Exodia, leaving the Rare Hunter defenseless. Summoned Skull and Alpha then attack the Hunter directly, which ends the duel. The Rare Hunter seems to have fallen unconscious due to the attack. Yami walks up to him and grabs Red-Eyes and a Locator Card.

The Hunter then wakes up slightly, "I-I lost. Forgive me master! Please don't be angry! Ahh!" he says getting to his feet. "No master! Please, don't! Spare me!"

The Eye of Wdjat then appears on his forehead, "We meet again Pharaoh." He says in a demonic voice. "Remember me? You probably don't, you were trapped inside the Puzzle when I dueled little Yugi. Congratulations on defeating my Rare Hunter, though he was the weakest duelist in my crew. Pharaoh, I've waited for you for years, and after all this time I will destroy you! I have no patience for failure, so I've taken over my Rare Hunter's body and trapped his mind in the Shadow Realm!"

"How do you control him?" Yami asks

"Each of the Millennium Items holds a certain power. So mind control is a simple task with my Millennium Rod. But allow me to introduce myself, remember my name; Marik."

"Marik! What is it you want from us!?" Yami says.

"I want what belongs to me. And I'll use it with the strength of the Egyptian God cards. This trio of beasts ran destruction throughout Egypt a millennia ago, until the Pharaoh sealed them away for eternity. But Pegasus actually included these monsters within the game of Duel Monsters. And with them I will take the powers of the Pharaoh himself! And then I'll rule the world! You days are numbered, so enjoy the game while you still can."

The Rare Hunter then collapses. "Here Joey, take your Red-Eyes." Yami says.

"Nah, Yug, you keep it. You won it fair and square, besides, you'll need it to defeat Marik. And you can always think of me when you play Red-Eyes. And we'll wipe this Marik creep right back to where he came from!" Joey says.

"Thanks Joey. I'll take good care of it." Yami says.

"Don't mention it. I'll see you guys later."

Joey walks away, leaving Yami and I standing here, "So where should we go next, Ari?" he asks.

I ponder this over for a moment, "I think Joey has the right idea. I think we should go our own way right now." I say.

"But, why?"

"We'll cover more ground that way and each face different duelists. And don't worry about me running into any Rare Hunters, because I'll win. I'd just be best for the both of us to duel on our own terms, and not having the other one stand around."

"But-"

"I'll be fine. Listen, we'll meet up soon. I'll promise you that." I say. I lean over and kiss him and then walk away.

_Time to start my own journey._

**Yes, that last part will probably piss off a bunch of fans, but whatever. I felt that I'd be better for the both of them to go their own way instead of constantly worrying over the other one. So, just live with it.**


	5. Begin the Hunt

~Ari~

I've been walking around for a while now, but I haven't seen any Rare Hunters come around yet. Nor have I seen any duelist that want to challenge me. _"Sabrina, what now?" I ask her._

_"I'm not sure Ari. I'm surprised we haven't seen any Rare Hunters. You'd think Marik would go after us since we're important to Yugi." She says._

_"Yeah, but personally, I guess I don't care if they're hunting us or not. But wait, what if they went after Yugi?"_

_"Maybe. But I wouldn't worry right now; Yugi can handle himself out there. For now, let's just try to get more Locator Cards."_

_"Right. But who should we challenge?"_

_"Anyone. Just keep walking around until someone challenges us."_

I'm practically walking all over the place, still not sure of who to challenge. I reach a park and sit down on a bench for a moment. I look around, but the park doesn't seem very crowded at all. "Well is it isn't the person Master Marik was looking for." A man says.

I look up to see a tall hooded man with a Duel Disk at the ready. "It's about time a Rare Hunter came around." I say standing up.

"Yes, but I'm afraid most of us have been sent to get ahold of Yugi Muto."

"What have you done with him?"

"Nothing yet. He's currently dueling another one of us. I have orders to take you out, so let's make this quick."

"Fine by me. The sooner you're defeated, the sooner we can look for Yugi."

Both of the Duel Disks shoot out the Holo Imagers and transform into the dueling position. "I'll take the first move." I say. I draw six cards, in my hand is; Monster Reborn, Magic Cylinder, Mystical Elf, Heavy Storm, Dark Hole, and Feral Imp. "I play one card face-down and place a monster in defense mode. That will end my turn." I say

The Rare Hunter draws, "I'll also play a card face-down and then I'll summon my Dragon Zombie and equip him with the Black Pendant to increase his power to 2100! Now, attack!" he says

"Not so fast. You activated my Magic Cylinder, which will redirect the attack on your Life Points." I say. Now his Life Points drop to 1900 in an instant. I draw Nutrient Z. "I'll play the Heavy Storm magic card to destroy your face-down card and Black Pendant! And then I'll play another monster in defense mode." His face-down was Call of the Haunted.

"But due to my Black Pendant, when it's destroyed you lose 500 Life Points." Now I have 3500 Life Points. "Dragon Zombie, attack!"

I flip Mystical Elf face-up, showing that she has higher defense than his attack power. Now the Rare Hunter is at 1500 Life Points. The Rare Hunter draws, "I then play Graverobber to bring my Black Pendant to my hand. And then I'll activate it to increase Dragon Zombie back to 2100. Now, attack!"

I draw Fairy Witch. _Darn, none of my monsters can beat 2100. And even if they could, I'd probably have to sacrifice first. _I scan over my hand until my eyes come to Dark Hole. _I could use this to destroy Dragon Zombie and then attack him directly._ "First, I'll play Dark Hole to destroy Dragon Zombie. Destroying Black Pendant with it will cost me 500 Life Points, but that's a small price to pay. Then I play Fairy Witch in attack mode and have her attack your directly!" I say. My Life Points are at 3000, when his are at 700. I also set Nutrient Z.

"I'll play Mystical Space Typhoon to destroy that face-down of yours first. Then I'll play Magical Ghost to destroy that Fairy Witch of yours." He says. My Life Points drop to 2500 now.

I draw De-Fusion. "I'll play Feral Imp in attack mode and have him attack Magical Ghost to destroy them both." Luckily, no one loses any Life Points.

The Rare Hunter draws. I can see a slight smirk from behind his cloak. "Time to introduce the rarest and most powerful card in my deck! I summon the Dark Elf, with a power of 2000 attack points! Now, attack!" he says. My Life Points drop right to 500.

I end up drawing Magician's Valkyria. _She won't be able to defeat the Dark Elf, but at least I can defend with her._ "I set one monster and end my turn." I say.

The Rare Hunter sends Dark Elf to destroy Valkyria, which destroys it. I draw Pot of Greed and play it. _Come on, give me a good card. _I end up drawing Summoned Skull and Meteor of Destruction. _Meteor of Destruction! That's perfect. _"It's time to end this duel Rare Hunter, because I play Meteor of Destruction. Now this will hit your Life Points with 1000 Points of damage!" I say.

"No! How could I have lost! Forgive me Master!" he yells. He falls to his knees in shame.

I walk up to him, "Alright, time to give up your rarest card and Locator Card." I say.

His body stiffens up, and then flails his arms around and starts yelling. _Marik must be involved. _The Eye of Wdjat then appears on his forehead. _Yep, Marik is here._ "What do you want Marik?" I ask.

"I'm just here to congratulate you, that's all. I'm surprised my Rare Hunter was beaten so easily. But then again, you are the Pharaoh's Queen." He says in his demonic voice.

"Yeah, I get that part. Now, what have you done with Yami?" I ask.

"I'm afraid he's also dealing with some Rare Hunters. I believe he's trying to search for you, but that will make both of you easy prey."

"Where is he?"

"He's not hurt if that's what you're wondering. The Pharaoh is holding his own quite well. But, I'm afraid he might take a visit to the Shadow Realm very soon."

"Tell me where he is!"

"That part will remain a secret. But, we'll meet again soon, Queen." The Rare Hunter then falls over. I reach down and grab his Locator Card and Dark Elf. _"Sabrina, do you think Yugi's okay?" I ask her._

_"I bet he is. Marik must be just trying to worry us. But just in case, we should keep an eye out for Yugi." She says._

_"Alright, I guess you're right."_

**I made a small reference to Yugi facing Arkana, since that duel takes place during this chapter. Next chapter could come out tonight, but maybe it won't.**


	6. For Fun

~Ari~

More wandering around town; _Joy._ I've been keeping my eyes out for Yugi or Joey, but so far, I haven't seen them. I walk over to the other side of downtown, where not too many duelists are around. _"What now?" I ask Sabrina._

_"I don't know. Wait for someone to challenge us, find Yugi or Joey, find Marik, I really don't care." She says._

_"Thanks for being such a big help." I say sarcastically_

_"No problem."_

I start wondering when Marik will actually show his face around us. _What if he's already among us? Could he be breathing down my neck now? No, he wouldn't face us unless it was absolutely necessary._ "Hey, you!"

This snaps me out of my thinking. I look over to see a girl about two years younger than Sabrina standing about three feet away. She has shoulder-length brown hair, green eyes, and wears a pink t-shirt along with a jean skirt. "Can I help you?" I say.

"Aren't you Sabrina Cafford?" she asks.

"Yes." I say.

_"No, you're not." Sabrina says._

_"Shut up. What do you want me to tell her? That I'm +5000 years old and I live within your body?"_

_"Fine, do what you want."_

My attention goes back over to the girl, "That's good; I wanted to challenge you, even though I don't see myself having a chance of winning. My name is Kanae, and how about we have a duel?" the girl says.

"Sure thing Kanae. Want to wager one Locator Card?" I say.

"That sounds great. But, I'll warn you, my deck is pretty good."

"We'll see."

The Duel Disks transform and the duel is ready to begin. Kanae has the first turn. "Okay, first I'll play Fairy's Gift in attack mode and equip her with the Elf's Light card, giving her an attack power of 1800! That ends my turn." She says.

In my hand, I have; De-Fusion, Magician's Valkria, Dark Magician, Mirror Force, and Meteor of Destruction. "Alright, I'll play Meteor of Destruction to drop your Life Points to 3000. And then I'll play one card face-down, along with a monster in defense mode. Your move." I say.

"Thank you. Oh, look, another Elf's Light card, this will give Fairy's Gift an attack power of 2200. And now my Fairy, attack her face-down!"

"Not so fast. I activate Mirror Force to redirect the attack!"

This destroys her Fairy's Gift. I draw Pot of Greed. I then activate that. I draw Monster Reborn and Dark Hole. "I flip Magician's Valkria face-up and have her attack you directly!" now Kanae's Life Points are at 1400. Kanae plays Dark Witch in attack mode and has her attack Valkria, bringing me to 3800 Life Points.

I draw Dust Tornado and set it. I activate Dark Hole, which destroys her Witch. She sets one card face-down and plays Shining Angel in attack mode. Shining Angel attacks me directly, bringing me to 2400 Life Points. I draw Trap Hole, "Okay, first I'll play Dust Tornado to destroy your face-down and then I'll play Monster Reborn to bring back Magician's Valkria and have her attack your Angel!" I say. Her face-down was Mirror Force. Kanaes's Life Points are at 1200 now.

"I set one monster in defense mode and end my turn." She says.

I draw another Meteor of Destruction and play it, dropping her to 200 Life Points. I end my turn from there. Kanae draws, "Now it's time to introduce my rarest monster, I sacrifice my face-down monster to summon the Dark Magician Girl!" she says.

"Dark Magician Girl?" I say.

"Yep, she's new. The next generation Dark Magician I suppose." Kanae says.

With the duel continuing, Dark Magician Girl attacks Magician's Valkria, which brings me to 2000 Life Points. I draw Feral Imp and set it. Kanae draws and then destroys it. _I'm not sure if I'll be able to last within a monster on the field._ I draw to find that it's Brain Control. _Yes, that's perfect!_ "I play Brain Control, and with a cost of 800 Life Points, I can take control of your Dark Magician Girl! Now, attack her directly!" I say.

The attack brings Kanae to 0 Life Points. _I win! _"Aww, but my Dark Magician Girl was unstoppable!" she says.

"Maybe so, but no monster is invincible. That was a great duel by the way." I say walking up to her.

"Same here! It was an honor to face a champ like you in a duel! I guess I owe you my Locator Card and Dark Magician Girl, right?" she says holding them out to me.

"Thanks. You're a good duelist, Kanae. I hope our paths will cross again." I say taking them.

"I sure hope so. But next time, I'll be more prepared!"

"Right."

I say goodbye to her and walk off. _It was nice to have a normal duel for once, but this doesn't mean our business with Marik is over._

**Sorry about the wait (even though it was only two days) but I got pretty busy lately. And don't ask why I named her Kanae, because I needed a name and Kanae was a character from another anime I was watching, so I just went with that.**


	7. Unexpected Turn

~Ari~ 

No Rare Hunters in sight. I still haven't seen Yugi or Joey, and walking around constantly is really starting to get boring. Right now, I'm wandering around part of the downtown area. Surprisingly though, not too many duelists are around here, which won't do me any good in getting another Locator Card.

Right now, I have three of them. Just two more and I can enter the finals. I wonder who many Yugi and Joey have by now. They probably have about the same amount. I turn a corner to walk into an alleyway. It's not too dark, but offers pretty good shade. "It's nice to meet my prey…" a man says.

I turn around to see a dark figure standing on the other side of the alleyway. "And it's nice to meet another Rare Hunter I can kick into next week." I say.

"Now, now, let's not be feisty. I'm just here for a duel that's all." His tone is smooth, but in a way that makes me want to throw up.

"Well, it's not like I have a choice anymore."

"You're right, you don't. We'll each wager two Locator Cards. I hope you can muster that."

"I can. Now stop the talking and let's duel."

The Duel Disks transform and the duel is ready to begin. The Rare Hunter has the first turn. In my hand I have; Mirror Force, Magic Cylinder, Mystical Elf, Pot of Greed, and Spellbinding Circle. "I'll play two Hinotama's and a Meteor of Destruction. This will reduce your Life Points to 2000!" The Rare Hunter says.

I draw Heavy Storm, "I play Heavy Storm which will destroy your face-down! And I'll activate the Pot of Greed magic card!" I say. I draw King's Knight and Fairy Witch. I set three cards face-down and summon King's Knight in attack mode, "Now, attack!"

Now the Rare Hunter is at 2400 Life Points." I'll activate my Nightmare Steel cage, which will prevent any monsters from attacking!" the Rare Hunter says.

I draw Kuriboh and then decide to pass my turn. The Rare Hunter sets one card face-down and summons Des Feral Imp in attack mode. I draw and activate Meteor of Destruction. Now the Rare Hunter is at 1400 Life Points. "I set one card face-down and have my Des Feral Imp attack your King's Knight!" the Rare Hunter says.

"Not so fast! This duel ends now! Because I activate Magic Cylinder!"

"WHAT! NO!"

_Well, that ended… quickly. You'd think that Marik would send out a stronger Rare Hunter, but I guess that's fine. _The Rare Hunter falls to his knees, but so far, I see no evidence of him being controlled by Marik in the near future.

While the Rare Hunter is still in his state of shock, I walk up to him and reach for the scattered cards around him. I take a Locator Card and the rarest card in his deck which was Kaiser Sea Horse. I begin to walk away, until I hear a noise escape the Rare Hunter's mouth.

I turn around to see that he's laughing. "What's so funny?" I ask.

"Master Marik won't be happy about my loss. But I know he'll be happy soon enough…" he says.

"Why? What did you do?"

"It's not what I've done; it's what you have…"

"What are you talking about?"

He lifts his head slightly and laughs louder, "You've walked straight into a trap!"

"What!"

I go to leave the alleyway, only to find Rare Hunters blocking my way. I go to the other side, but Rare Hunters are waiting there too. _How could I let that happen?_ I look around, but there are no other ways out of here.

_Right now, I guess I have no one to blame but myself. _Some of the Rare Hunters start walking toward me. "Get away from me!" I yell. Hopefully, this will grab some attention.

The Rare Hunters get closer and grab my arms. I thrash around and start punching some of them. But, the more I try to fight them, the more Rare Hunters seem to come.

Before I know it, they're practically dragging me away, and somehow I end up passing out.

**Yeah… you can probably tell where this is going. Anyway, I can't wait to do the next chapter! And sorry if this one was a bit (okay a LOT) too short.**


	8. Kidnapped

~Sabrina~

I wake up again on a concrete floor. I look around and notice that the walls are made of metal, there are boxes scattered on the floor, and there's a small window near the ceiling. I hear a yell come from behind the door behind me. I look over to see two Rare Hunters approaching the door, they open it and throw Tea inside and then shut the door. "Tea! Are you alright?" I say.

"Oh, Sabrina! I'm fine. What's the meaning of all of this?" she says.

"I don't know. Do you think they have Yugi also?"

"I'm not sure. But, I was with Joey earlier, and I haven't seen him. Who are these guys anyway?"

"They call themselves Rare Hunters. They work for this guy named Marik. I want to say that we're being used as bait, but I also feel that Marik has something else in mind."

"Then we better not stay to find out! Maybe we can escape through that window, help me move those boxes."

We start stacking the boxes up high enough so that we'll be able to reach the window. Tea climbs up first and tries to grab the ledge, but the boxes soon collapse sending her straight to the ground. "You okay?" I ask

"Yeah, I'll be alright." She says.

I notice that the door is opening. I turn around to see those same Rare Hunters, but with Mokuba this time. They throw him inside and shut the door. "Mokuba, what are you doing here?" I say.

"Sabrina! Tea! I was just looking for you guys until those Rare Hunters grabbed me. Poor Seto… I wish I could help him. But, he won't lose, after all, Yugi and him both have an Egyptian God card!" Mokuba says.

"Egyptian what?" Tea says.

_I remember that! I think Marik said something about them when he was controlling that Rare Hunter. He said they were three Egyptian beasts that the Pharaoh locked away millennia ago_. "Egyptian God cards. They're the both powerful cards in Duel Monsters and there are only three. Whoever has them will be unstoppable." Mokuba says.

"Marik wants his hands on them. Not only that, he wants the Puzzle and Pendant too. With all of them in his grasp, he'll be able to control the entire world." I say.

For now, the three of us just sit there in wait. We sit there in almost silence for about half an hour. "Man, if only I could get in touch with Seto, but those jerks took my laptop." Mokuba says

"Well there has to be some other way out of here. Our first plan didn't go very smoothly though." I say.

The door then opens again. Two Rare Hunters walk into the room and approach us. "What do you want?" I ask.

"We have orders from Master Marik to take you into custody." One of them says.

"Well, you can tell Marik that I'm staying put!" I say backing away from them.

The Rare Hunters get closer to us. One of them is only a few feet away from me, so I decide to go on the offensive. I go to punch him, which I land on his face, but the other Rare Hunter takes that chance to grab me.

I hit the ground, and try to get back up, but the Rare Hunter is holding me down. "Get off of me! Let me go!" I yell. Mokuba tries to tackle the guy, but is quickly shoved off. Tea tries to make similar efforts, but they fail as well. The Rare Hunter ties my hands behind my back and put a blindfold over my eyes.

"No! Get off of me! Let me go!" I yell. I keep yelling similar things as they drag me by the arms down a hallway. After a while, I give it a rest because I know that these guys won't stop. So I let myself get dragged.

I hear a door open and then I get dragged inside. I notice that the room must be darker than the hallways, which increases when they shut the door. They lift me up and place me into a chair and start tying me to it. _What's the point of this? What are they going to do, interrogate me?_ I hear the door open once more and then hear one of the Rare Hunters speak, "She's all set." He says

Footsteps move away from me, and the door shuts, so I suppose I'm left alone with whoever the other person is. "Show yourself." I say.

The blindfold is removed from my eyes and I see a tall man wearing a Rare Hunter cloak standing in front of me. I can slightly see his face, and he seems to have tan skin and some kind of marking on his face. "What's the deal with this!? If you're going to interrogate me, then sorry, but I know nothing!" I say.

"You'll learn what we have planned for you soon enough." The man says.

I feel that someone else might be in the room, but I don't see anyone. _Could this man be Marik? Why would he bother to show his face now? I feel that another Millennium Item is present in this room. It could be the Rod; Marik said he possessed that one. _"So, what's so special about you? Are you Marik or some wannaby that follows his every order?" I say.

"Keep quiet. For now, you will do as your told." He says.

"Or what? You guys don't scare me. You're just a bunch of cowards trying to look all tough and scary. Why don't you just take the Pendant now? Or are you too much of a wimp to do so?"

"In due time. But not now."

He raises his hand and puts it near my face, "Hey get away from me! I don't need Rare Hunter germs all over me!" I yell.

I then feel something come over me. It's like something trying to break my free-will. I try to see if I can connect to Ari, but whatever is happening is keeping her inside the Pendant. _Is he trying to take control of me?_ _I've got to beat this; I can't lose my mind to a coward like him! _

I try to fight this feeling, but it's too strong. It seems to be cutting off the powers of the Pendant. My mind slips away from me, and I know I'll be under Marik's control.

~Marik Pov~

_With Sabrina under my control, little Yugi will have no choice but to surrender his Egyptian God card to me! _I step out from behind Sabrina, who is absolutely motionless. "Odion, untie her. We need everyone into position for this to work." I say.

"Yes, Master Marik." Odion says.

"And bring in that girl and Kaiba's brother. They'll make a great addition to my collection of Mind Slaves."

_I already have Joey and Sabrina under my control, and an extra two will come in handy._ I wait in the room as Odion leaves to gather Tea and Kaiba's brother. A Rare Hunter walks into the room, "Master Marik, please forgive us, but Mokuba… he's escaped." He says.

"What! You fool! I give you the simple task of making sure they don't escape, and you do the opposite!" I yell. I use the Millennium Rod and send him to the Shadow Realm. _How pathetic. My minions can't even carry out the simplest of tasks. But, I could use Mokuba's escape to my advantage. Now little Yugi has no choice but to come crawling to me. He'll have no choice but to surrender at the sight of his friends!_

_But, of course, I'll still have to duel him for his Millennium Puzzle. And perhaps I could also have the Pendant at stake. I could always use my new Mind Slaves as a good pawn. But, who would the Pharaoh struggle against the most; his host's best friend or his Queen?_

**Yeah, that's the problem I'm having at the moment. Any ideas?**


	9. Mind-Controlling Duel

~Third person Pov~

_I can't believe I let this happen. Joey, Tea, and Sabrina are all in grave danger now._ Yami thought."Hey guys, there's a person down there! And it kind of looks like Sabrina!" Mokuba says.

Yami leans his head over to the window and see her standing by the pier, "That is her!" He says.

The helicopter soon lands and Yami bursts out of his seat, with Kaiba and Mokuba walking out shortly after. Sabrina has taken on the physical appearance of Ari. "Welcome…" she says.

_Something's not right. Her voice is different. _Yami thought, "Ari?" He asks.

"Not exactly. Ari is no longer in control." She says.

"Marik?"

"That's correct. And if you want your friends back, then you'll listen to what I say."

"Listen Ari! You've got to escape his grasp! Marik is controlling you!"

"It's pointless. So listen up, we're playing by my rules today. I'll release your friends as soon as I get what I want. Of course, since I have my eyes on your Puzzle and Egyptian God card, I'll have to duel you. Your opponent will be waiting for us."

"You're crazy!"

"Refuse and your friends belong to me. I could always use more Mind Slaves."

"Come on Ari! You vowed to help me defeat Marik! You've got to wake up! I know you're in there and I'm going to free you."

"Yugi! You'd better do exactly what she says!"

Yami turns around to see Tea standing there. "This may come as an unpleasant surprise, but like Sabrina, Tea is also under my control. AHAHA!" she says.

"Marik leave them alone! They've done nothing to deserve this!"

"Follow me. I'll show you the location of our duel." Ari says, completing ignoring Yami. She and Tea begin to walk away, which gives Yami no choice but to follow them. _How will I free them? What if I can't? _He asks himself.

Yami, Kaiba, and Mokuba are lead to an area of the pier that is in a square- shape. The middle of the square is missing, which reveals nothing but water. On the left side is "Joey!" Yami says.

"Correct. I will be your opponent today! Welcome to my special dueling arena. Should you accept this duel, you'll duel your best friend for the highest stakes imaginable!" he says.

Ari then walks over and holds up two chains, "Put these on." She says. Joey and Yami are forced to wear them around their ankles, "Notice that those chains connect to that large anchor hanging above you. Thirty seconds after a players Life Points hit zero, the anchor will drop to the bottom of the sea!" she says.

"That's right, now look down." Joey says. "That small yellow box by your feet will be your Life Point calculator, but it also contains the key to your survival. When one players Life Points reach zero, the other players box will open, and reveal the key to unlock his shackles! Remember, you'll have thirty seconds to free yourself before the anchor drops."

"So the loser will be dragged to the bottom of the ocean, while the winner frees himself at the last minute?"

"That's right. Quite ingenious, isn't it?" Ari says, "In order to get Joey back if you've won this duel, then you'll have to fish him out of the ocean. But don't think I've let Tea or Sabrina out of the equation. I'll get to Tea's role in a minute, but notice, that Sabrina will be standing on that platform over there." She says pointing to it. It sits at the back of the arena and looks big enough to hold one person on it.

It's Joey's turn to speak now, "Notice how she is also chained to that platform. For every Life Point you lose, that platform will sink lower into the ocean. And when your Life Points hit zero, she'll be drowned underwater! But don't worry, because either key will also unlock her shackles."

"Marik! Stop this now! My friends aren't involved in this; it's just you and me!"

"It's never that simple little Yugi. Oh, and Seto Kaiba, don't think your just a spectator in all of this. As soon as I'm done with little Yugi, I'll set my sights on your Egyptian God card; Obelisk the Tormentor!"

Kaiba cringes at the sight of this, "As head of the Battle City tournament, I demand this duel be stopped now!" he says.

"Sorry, but this duel will go as planned. See, above Tea's head is a crane holding that crate; if anyone makes a move to stop this, well, let's just say that anchor won't be the only thing falling! Now that the rules have been explained, I suppose we can start this duel. Oh, and I almost forgot, I wouldn't want Tea to miss the fun!"

Tea then slumps over, but then wakes up again, "Tea!" Yami shouts.

"What's going on?" she says.

"Enough! This duel will start. But Yugi, don't even think of using your Egyptian God card. So remove that card from your deck and let's start this duel!"

Yami unclips his belt from my waist and open up the slot for my deck. Inside, are Slifer the Sky Dragon and… Joey's Red-Eyes! _This will help. It was a sign of our friendship when Joey gave it to me. I'm putting this into my deck, maybe it will bring Joey back if I use it._ He thinks.

The belt, which contains Slifer, is thrown onto the ground. "Prepare to lose Yugi!" Joey says.

Yugi has the first move. "I'll summon Gazelle the King of Mythical Beasts, in defense mode! That ends my turn." Yami says.

"Say goodbye to your Gazelle, because I play Raigeki, which destroys it! And now, I'll summon Alligator Sword, attack his Life Points directly!" Joey says. Yugi now has 2500 Life Points. With Life Points lost, the platform holding Ari sinks lower until the water reaches just below her waist. Ari flinches slightly, "_Y-Yami's in trouble. I have to h-help him._" She says to herself.

"_No, you are to stay under my control!" Marik tells her._

"I play Big Shield Gardna in defense mode. That's all for now." Yami says.

"You think that will save you, your so naïve. I play my Hinotama magic card!" Joey says. "Watch as it inflicts you with 500 points of direct damage!"

Yami now has 2000 Life Points, and the water is up to Ari's waist now. "I place this card face-down, and then summon my Kuriboh in attack mode!" Yami says.

"Is this a joke? Kuriboh's weak! But if losing is your goal, allow me to help you. So now, Alligator Sword, attack his Kuriboh!"

"Hold it right there! I activate Spellbinding Circle, to stop your monster from attacking!"

"I've had enough of your childish games! Since this worked well last time, I'll use another one; Hintotama! AHAHAHA!"

Yami has 1500 Life Points now. The water reaches up to Ari's stomach now. _"Y-Yami. I have to h-help you. I-I can't let you keep getting hurt." She thinks._

_"Quiet! You'll stay under my control until I decide to release you!" Marik tells her._

_"N-no. I-I can't let him get hurt."_

_"Silence!"_

An immense pain shoots through Ari's head, which makes her yell. "Ari, are you alright?!" Yami says.

"Yes, just some minor difficulties, but now I'm back in control." She says. By her tone, you can tell Marik is still there.

Yami draws the Red-Eyes Black Dragon. _Yes! This could be the card I need to free Joey! _He thinks. _But summoning this now will be too risky; Marik might have something to destroy it_. "So now, I play the magic card Exchange!" he says.

"Ha! You must be getting desperate! But if you insist, I'll be glad to take a card from your hand." Joey says walking over to Yami.

Yami holds up his hand, which contains Mystic Box, Card Destruction, De-Spell, and Red-Eyes Black Dragon, "So go ahead Marik, pick any card you like." Yami says.

_"Take that Red-Eyes card! You have no mind of your own Joey!" Marik tells him._

_ Joey reaches for the card, but hesitates, "B-But I gave Yugi that card. It's Yugi's card now, I-I made a promise!" Joey says._

_"You made no promise! I command you to take that card NOW! Obey me!"_

_"N-no! Yugi needs it."_

Joey hesitates, but ends up taking Card Destruction. Now Yami is able to pick one of Joey's cards, and he takes Magic Arm Shield. Joey walks back over to his side of the field, "Make your move Pharaoh." He says.

"Alright, now I'll sacrifice my two monsters, so I'll be able to summon Red-Eyes Black Dragon!" he says.

"M-my Red-Eyes." Joey says.

"Red-Eyes Black Dragon, attack his Alligator Sword!"

Alligator Sword is destroyed, and Joey is down to 2400 Life Points. "If that was a pathetic attempt to loosen my control on Joey, then your even more pitiful than I thought. And now, I'll use another Hintotama magic card!" Joey says. Yami is down to 1000 Life Points now.

The platform sinks lower until the water is up to Ari's chest. _"I-I need to help him." She thinks_

"_NO! You're going to stay under my control!"_

_"N-no. I can't let t-this happen anymore. I-I love Yami, and I can't let him get hurt."_

A pounding headache comes over Ari as she screams in pain. _"What? No! My control is breaking!"_ Marik says. The Eye of Wdjat appears on her forehead as she continues to yell.

~Ari~

I breathe heavily as I return control. _Where am I? What's going on? _ I look around and notice that Yami and Joey are dueling. Plus, my body is halfway underwater. "What is going on?" I say.

"Ari? Is that you?" Yami says.

"Yeah, who else would I be?"

"Marik was controlling your mind. He has Joey under his control also."

I try to get out of the water, until I notice that my feet are chained to whatever I'm standing on. _"Ari, maybe you should let me take control. I think Yugi has the same idea. Joey may be able to recognize us more if we change back." Sabrina says to me._

I look over at Yami, who seems to be having the same conversation with Yugi, _"It's the only way. Yami isn't having any luck getting through to Joey, so have us give it a try." _

_"Alright, but be careful."_

~Sabrina~

Yugi is struggling to get to his feet, probably from that direct attack. "Surrender yet, Yugi?" Joey says.

"Listen up Marik, I'm not going to stop until my friends are safe from harm." Yugi says as he starts walking toward Joey. _What's he doing?_

"_And I'm not_ going to stop this duel, so I play Rocket Warrior in attack mode. And I'll also play Attrition, which allows me to attack your Red-Eyes, but instead of losing Life Points, the points will come out of Red-Eyes' attack points. Attack my Rocket Warrior!" Joey says.

Red-Eyes now has 1900 attack points. But also, Rocket Warrior's effect sets Red-Eyes at 900 attack points. "Here Joey, take this." Yugi says as he holds the Puzzle out to him. Yugi places it around Joey's neck, "Now a piece of me will always be with you."

_If this doesn't break Marik's grasp, then I don't know what will._ "Y-Yugi's Puzzle." He says. _That's it Joey, come on, fight it! _"D-destroy Yugi!"

_Crap. _"Your efforts won't work little Yugi. No matter what you do, Joey will remain under my control. So let's get on with this and make your move!" Joey shouts.

Yugi sets two cards face-down and summon Beta the Magnet Warrior in attack mode. Joey summons Panther Warrior in attack mode, and then has Rocket Warrior attack Beta, but Yugi activates Magic Arm Shield to redirect the attack back at Panther Warrior. But, instead of destroying it, Rocket Warrior uses its effect, which brings Panther Warrior to zero attack points.

"I'll sacrifice my Beta to summon Beast of Gilfer! Now destroy his Rocket Warrior!" Yugi says. Now Joey has 1700 Life Points.

Joey sets two cards face-down and ends his turn. Yugi draws and sets one card face-down. He then sends Gilfer to attack Panther Warrior, but Joey activates Graceful and Skull Dice. Yugi counters Graceful Dice with De-Spell, which destroys it. Skull Dice lands on a two, which brings Gilfer to 1100, but Joey's Life Points still drop to 1100 since Gilfer was stronger than Panther Warrior.

I then notice a car pull up to the pier. Inside, are Tristan, Duke, Mai, and Serenity. _Oh no. Why Serenity. Thank goodness she still has her bandages on, or else if she sees Joey dueling like this, she'll never get over it._

Joey draws his next card and stares at it for a moment, "The moment I've been waiting for has arrived Yugi." He says. _Oh no._

"Joey don't do this! You can still break free from Maarik's control!" Yugi says.

Joey continues to stare at the card he drew, as if he's trying to fight back Marik's wishes. _Come on Joey, you can do it!_ "I-I am Joey. I remember…" He says faintly. _Yes! You can do it! _As the conflict within himself continues, he starts yelling.

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" he yells as he falls to his knees. "I-I CAN'T DESTROY YUGI! HE'S MY BEST FRIEND! I WON'T DO IT!"

"Fight it Joey!" I yell.

"You can do it Joey!"

"Be strong!"

_Come on, you can fight this! _"Marik!" Yugi yells, "There will be a loser to this duel, but it won't be the players. It will be you! There's something you forgot to think about when you possessed Joey, you forgot about his will, and the support of his friends! Your power over Joey has weakened, and that means, you lose!"

Joey yells again, but then comes back to his feet. "It's over Yugi! I'm back in control! And I activate Meteor of Destruction!" he says. "WAIT! YUGI! NO!"

_Alright, he broke free!_ "Trap Card activate; Mystical Refpanel! This card will stop your Meteor of Destruction, and then be redirected anywhere on the field!" Yugi says.

Yugi hesitates slightly though, if he directs it at himself, then I'll drown with him, but if he hits Joey, then he'll drown. "Yugi! Don't worry about me! Just do what you need to do!" I shout.

Yugi hesitates more, which I can't stand. I take off the Millennium Pendant and throw it over to Joey, "Take care of that Joey." I say.

"But I-"

"No, this is what needs to be done."

"It's time." Yugi says, "I guess I'll have no choice. At least they have a chance at saving you Sabrina. Now, Refpanel, direct your attack at me!"

A tear falls from my face. Yugi collapses on the ground as his Life Points hit 0. I feel the platform below me shatter and a weight pulls me down to the bottom. I clamp a hand over my mouth to keep from inhaling water, but it's not very effective.

_Even if Joey will be able to escape, then I doubt they'll have time to unlock my chain with his key before I'm dead. But, I guess the somewhat bright side to this is that I'll be able to die with my best friend. And Ari and Yami are safe. _I look up to the surface of the water, which seems so far away, to see the anchor fall off the hook and see Yugi fall with it.

I close my eyes as I allow death to come over me. I float there for a second until I notice something yanking at my chain. I open my eyes to see someone unlocking my chain. My vision is blurred, so I can't see very well. _Is that Joey? _My eyes move over to the chain that was supposed to hold Yugi, but I can't see anything connected to it. _Is he safe?_

The chain then unlocks and I begin to float back to the surface. _But wait, what about Joey?! We can't leave him there to die!_ I try to swim back down to help him, but I can't. My head comes above water and I gasp for air.

I feel someone pulling me toward shore, but I can't tell who it is. "Wait Serenity?!" I hear someone say.

"She has the key!"

_Is she trying to help Joey? Did she already take her bandages off?_ I finally gain enough air to tell what's going on, and I begin to rub the water out of my eyes. Yugi is sitting next to me, and he seems fine. Joey and Serenity then come out of the water, and we bring them to shore.

The sun begins to set. "Man, guys I-I I'm sorry." Joey says.

"It's fine Joey; it's not your fault." Yugi says.

"But I almost killed you and Sabrina."

"It's okay Joey. The good thing is that we're all safe."

"But Marik made a complete fool outta me! How can I show my face at the finals!? I nearly killed my best friends!"

"Joey," I say, "I was controlled too, and I'm partially responsible as well. But that doesn't mean we have to keep beating ourselves about it. What's done is done. The best thing is that Yugi forgave us, and we can continue with our lives and forget this thing ever happened."

"But-"

"Just forget it! You showed enough courage to fight back Marik, and that's what counts! And that courage was the same thing that inspired Serenity to save you! She doesn't care if you were controlled, you're her brother and she's supposed to look up to you! But with you feeling sorry for yourself, you're not doing your job of setting an example for her!"

"Yeah Joey," Serenity says, "you inspired me. At first, I didn't want to take my bandages off, but seeing you use such courage gave me the strength I needed to do it. I've been able to get through all of this because you were always there for me. Your more than just my brother, your my idol, and I love you." She says hugging Joey.

"Thanks sis. I needed that. Oh, and I almost forgot." Joey says. He walks over to where he left his Duel Disk and picks it up, along with the Puzzle and Pendant. "I think I should give these back." He says holding out the Items.

"Thanks Joey." Yugi and I say.

"I'll see you dweebs at the finals." Kaiba says walking off with Mokuba.

_Oh, right, I almost forgot that Kaiba and Mokuba were ever here._ _In all of this madness I almost forgot about the finals. But luckily, Marik didn't take my deck or Duel Disk when I was controlled; they've just been sitting against a warehouse, which is kind of strange. But now, we're finally ready to enter the finals and take down Marik._

**I got a few requests for this chapter, but due to some key plot details, I was unable to fully fit them in. I just hope this chapter was good overall without those requests. **


	10. Darkness Ahead

~Sabrina~

"No, Yugi that card is supposed to go here, I think." I say.

"How do you know? You're not the one who designed them." Yugi says.

"I think you might be doing it wrong though. The order doesn't look correct."

The Locator Cards then emit a slight glow, "You were saying?"

"Shut up."

A holographic image of Domino City then appears above the Locator Cards. "Ehhh, where are we right now?" Joey asks.

"We're over here. See, the pier." I say pointing to the hologram.

"You sure dats the right place?"

"Don't you see the warehouses?"

"You don't know they're warehouses, they just look like rectangles! For all we know, those rectangles could just be a cheap stunt Kaiba pulled to throw us off!"

"Okay guys, calm down." Yugi says, "I think Sabrina's right, it does look like the pier." I smirk at Joey, which makes him frown. "And see, this building over here is flashing, so that must be the location of the finals. It looks like it's around the middle of the city. It could take a while to get there though."

"We can take my car, but it might be a bit cramped." Mai says.

"No problem, at least it's better than walking." I say.

The eight of us walk over to Mai's blue convertible car, and try to figure out the seating arrangements. Mai ends up driving (obviously), Serenity sits in front with her, while the other six of us try to find a way to fit into the back. The back was made to only fit three people, so we decide the smallest people should sit there; Yugi, Tea, and Tristan. Joey, Duke, and I sit behind the seats, on the hood, with our legs in between Yugi, Tea, and Tristan.

Luckily, Mai doesn't drive _too _fast, or else we would've fallen off. It was fun though, letting the breeze hit my face and it was just nice being with my friends. Mai stops the car, "Why did you stop? The finals are about two blocks from here." I say.

"I know. But when the finals are over, the roads will be crazy, so I'm parking here so we don't get stuck in traffic." Mai says.

"Oh, yeah, good idea Mai." Joey says.

So here we go the eight of us walking two blocks to the location of the finals. The town is dark, and very quiet. I mean, sure it's nighttime, but I didn't expect it to be this quiet. "So, who do you suppose will be at the finals?" I say trying to start a conversation.

"Well, there are the four of us here. And no doubt Kaiba will also be there. The other three could be anybody." Yugi says.

"They must be pretty strong though."

We continue walking, and having small conversations here and there. I look up ahead and notice that the streetlights aren't on down there, "That's weird." I say. This makes the gang look up, "I wonder why they're not on."

"Maybe there was an outage." Yugi says.

We shrug it off and take a step forward, but Joey stays put, "Come on Joey." Tea says.

"Nuh uh. I ain't taking a step forward. What if something jumps out at us?" He says nervously.

"Joey, you have the seven of us to protect you. And besides, this is a city; nothing abnormal is going to jump on you." I say.

"Then what's that?" he says pointing forward.

The rest of us look forward to see someone walking out of the darkness. "Bakura?! I thought you're supposed to be in the hospital!" Yugi says.

"There's been a change of plans." He says. I don't think that's Bakura, I think it's that evil spirit.

_"Sabrina, let me take over. This could get dangerous." Ari says._

_"Alright."_

~Ari~

_I wonder what he's doing here. Well, then again, why wouldn't he be here? No doubt he's here to get the Millennium Items. _I look over and notice that Yami is already here, "Why are you here?" he says.

"I've come for your Puzzle, why else? And I also have my sights on that Egyptian God card of yours." Bakura says. "It's time Pharaoh, time to battle for that Puzzle of yours!"

This just seems like déjà vu. I mean, when are people not trying to get the Puzzle? "Alright Bakura, I'll play your game, but only so my friends will be safe." Yami says.

The two get their Duel Disks at the ready. _But, then again, I don't remember him ever getting a Duel Disk. Knowing the dark spirit, he probably stole it._ Bakura has the first turn, "I summon my Gross Ghost of Fiends in attack mode. The move goes to you." He says

Yami draws, "I summon Alpha the Magnet Warrior. Alpha, attack his Ghost!" he says.

Bakura is down to 3900 Life Points. Bakura sets a monster and ends his turn. Yami sacrifices Alpha to summon Summoned Skull, and then attacks Bakura's face-down, which was Souls of the Forgotten. Bakura sets another monster.

Yami draws, "I set one card face-down and then summon the Feral Imp, in attack mode! Summoned Skull, attack his face-down monster, and Feral Imp, attack him directly!" he says. Bakura now has 2600 Life Points.

Bakura draws, "Now Pharaoh, it's time to meet one of my strongest monsters. By removing from play three fiend-type monsters I'm able to summon this; Dark Necrofear in attack mode! I set one card and end my turn." He says.

_That's weird. Dark Necrofear only has 2200 attack points, when Summoned Skull has 2500. Maybe he's waiting to activate his face-down, but it might be better to attack and get rid of it if it is a trap. _Yami draws, "Alright, I'll use my face-down card; Dust Tornado to destroy yours!" he says. It was Dark Spirit of the Silent. "Now, Summoned Skull, destroy his Dark Necrofear!"

Bakura has 2300 Life Points, while Yami still hasn't lost a single one. "Get ready, because I activate Destiny Board! This card allows me to add one letter to it during each one of your turns. And once I gather all five letters, I'll win the duel. I'll also play a monster face-down." Bakura says.

_I wonder how Yami will get out of this one._ Yami draws, "I sacrifice my two monsters in order to summon the Dark Magician! Now, attack his set monster!" he says. It was Goblin Zombie.

"And don't forget Pharaoh, now I can add another letter onto my Destiny Board." Now Bakura has a 'D' and an 'E' on the field. Bakura sets another monster.

"Dark Magician, attack!" The monster was The Portrait's Secret. Now the Destiny Board also has an 'A'.

Bakura sets another monster. Dark Magician destroys it. The Destiny Board has a 'T' now. Bakura does his usual set monster and ends his turn. _At the end of Yami's next turn, the Destiny Board will be completed and Yami will lose. _

Yami draws, "Looks like your plan has failed Bakura, because I activate De-Spell! And I'll target the 'A' of the Destiny Board, and once it's gone, every other letter will be destroyed!"

"What! No! Curse you!"

"And I won't stop there. I activate Monster Reborn in order to bring back my Summoned Skull! Summoned Skull, attack his set monster, and Dark Magician, attack him directly!"

"No!" Bakura says as his Life Points plummet to zero. _Yes! He won!_

Yami turns around to face the rest of us, who are all cheering. I walk up to him and hug him, "Nice job." I say.

"Thanks. I expected that duel to last longer though." He says.

"Me too. I was surprised that-"I stop as I look forward.

"What's wrong?"

I lift my hand and point forward, "Bakura's gone." I say.

Everyone goes wide-eyed and starts looking around, "Where do you think he could've gone?" Tea asks.

"I'm not sure. But he'll be back, one way or another." Yami says.

**Alright, chapter done! This duel replaced the Mai vs Magnum duel, because the Yami vs Bakura duel was more important to the plot, and the other one was complete unnecessary filler. So, yeah.**


	11. Taking Flight

~Sabrina~

With Bakura still nowhere to be seen, we decide to move on. Luckily, we finally get Joey to walk through that dark area, but it was followed with quite a few yells, and tackling. "Isn't that Kaiba Corp Stadium over there?" Yugi says pointing ahead.

I look ahead to see the stadium, which could pass off as a baseball field, or a very modern coliseum. "Well, it's not like we expected anything less from Kaiba." I say.

All of us walk up to the stadium and enter the opening on the side of the building. As we walk through, we see Kaiba, Mokuba, and some of their guards standing around. "So, this is it?" Yugi says.

"But this place is still under construction." I say.

"We must be really early." Mai says.

One of Kaiba's guards steps forward, "Welcome, please present your tournament Locator Cards." He says.

I reach into my pocket and pull out all six. Joey, Mai, and Yugi do the same. The guard reaches into his jacket and pulls out seven cards, and grabs four of them and hands them to us. "Here are your tournament ID's. Congratulations, you four are now officially Battle City finalists. Our security is tight, so keep these ID's with you at all times." He says

"So, where are the other finalists?" I ask.

"The four of you are the first ones here, aside from Mister Kaiba of course. The other three still need to attend." The guard says.

We hear footsteps coming toward us, so we look over to see a man walking toward us. He has tan skin, blonde-ish hair, grey/purple eyes, and wears a purple shirt and black pants. "Who is that?" I ask.

"Hey wait a second," Joey says walking up to the man, "your Namu right?"

"Yeah, you saved Bakura's life!" Tea adds.

"Glad I could help! Where's Bakura now?" Namu says.

_I feel like I've missed a ton during the beginning of this tournament. I mean, Yugi got an Egyptian God card, Bakura was hospitalized, Joey and Tea met this guy named Namu, and who knows what else will come around! _"We saw him walking around not too long ago. But then, he vanished. Maybe it was just something of our imagination." Tea says.

"Well, I hope he's okay. I'll always do anything to help someone in need!" Namu says.

_I don't trust this Namu guy. There's something about him that seems familiar, but in a bad way. He also seems like a bit of a goody-too- shoes. For now, I'll keep my eye on him. _"So Joey, I guess we both made it to the finals. I'm actually surprised that I ever made it this far." Namu says.

Yugi and I walk up to them, "Yugi, Sabrina, this is Namu." Tea says.

"I've heard a lot about you Yugi. It's an honor to meet you. Same to you Sabrina, you too always seem like true champions to me." Namu says.

He shakes our hands, but I still don't trust him. I sense something about him; I can't place my finger on it though. "It's nice to meet you too Namu, any friend of Joey and Tea, is a friend of mine!" Yugi says.

"The pleasure is all mine. I just hope everyone I meet today is as friendly as you guys."

_Or maybe, he's not that awful. Maybe I'm just getting paranoid with all this Rare Hunter business._ "Oh, look, is that the seventh finalist?" Namu says pointing.

We all look over to see a tall man with tan skin, wearing a Rare Hunter cloak walking toward us. _Isn't that the guy that I saw when I was under Marik's control? Is that really Marik? _"Yugi, that's the guy, he's the one we saw when the Rare Hunters kidnapped us!" I say.

Yugi's face turns serious as we watch the man. "State your name this instant." Kaiba says.

"My name is Marik." He says darkly.

"Argh! You're that Rare Hunter leader!? Imma kick your butt so hard, you won't know what hit you!" Joey says.

"You're no match for me."

"Is that a challenge?!"

"Joey now is not the time. I don't think any of us will do good making threats to him." I say to Joey.

Joey sighs and begins to calm down. Our attention moves over to Kaiba, to see what kind of move he's going to make, "I should disqualify you right now, for kidnapping my little brother. But, you have something I want. And when the finals are over, your Egyptian God card will be mine!" he says.

"Kaiba, you can't be serious! This guy kidnapped your brother, turned your tournament into some crazy disaster, and controlled us, and you're just going to let him walk free because you want one good Duel Monsters card?" I say

Kaiba grunts and ignores me. _Geez, that guy has no respect. _"Alright, seven out of the eight of you are here, it's time for an announcement." A guard says, "Although your Locator Cards lead you here, this is not the sight of the Battle City finals. The actual arena should be arriving any second now."

_Arriving? So the location moves?_ "Okay, I'm totally lost." Joey says.

"So, then, where are the finals?" Yugi says.

I hear a noise overhead and I look up, "I guess right there." I say. Kaiba's giant blimp appears which I guess the stadium wasn't big enough for him.

"Dang, Kaiba went all out on that one." Joey says.

"So, I guess we're dueling in the sky." Yugi adds.

"You got it! 4000 feet to be exact!" Mokuba says. "So get ready, because it's time to board Kaiba Craft 3, to start the Battle City finals!"

The blimp lands and a small staircase comes out by the opening, "We'll depart as soon as the eighth duelist arrives."

We all enter the blimp, but I then look behind me to see Duke, Tristan, Tea, and Serenity not being able to get on board, "You don't have tournament ID's, so I can't let you pass." The guard says.

"Give it a rest Roland; I don't even have an ID card!" Mokuba says.

"But these are Mister Kaiba's rules." Roland says.

"Well bro, can they come?"

Kaiba shrugs, "Whatever." He says.

The four of them then run on board, with me still ahead of them, "I guess you guys got lucky." I say.

"Yeah, I'm surprised Kaiba was that 'nice'." Tea says.

"Well, I wouldn't expect us to get used to that, now come on, we've got to catch up with the others!" I say running ahead. I then run into Yugi on the next level, by one of the windows, "Hey Yugi." I say.

"Oh, hi Sabrina. I wasn't sure where you went." He says.

"Well, I'm here now."

The blimp begins to take off, so we all stand there watching the city get smaller through the windows. "Man, thanks for bringing me along Joey!" Serenity says.

"No problem, I guess that's the joy of being related to a champion!" he says.

"Is that a joke Wheeler?" Kaiba says, "You'll get squashed in this tournament, it's a long way down from the height we're at. And last time I checked, monkeys can't fly."

_So now Joey's been demoted from a dog to a monkey. Wouldn't expect anything else from Kaiba._ "Yugi, I have some words of advice for you too." Kaiba adds, "I'm aware that you haven't played your Egyptian God card since you got it, but it's time for that to end right here and now. So Slifer better be in your deck when I win it! This is my tournament, got it? So when this is over, I'll be the owner of all three Egyptian God cards! So, you're playing my game, with my rules!" he says walking away.

_"Man, that guy has no respect." Ari says._

_"You can say that twice." I say._

_"But Yugi, you'd be wise to take Kaiba's advice. We don't know what we're dealing with in this tournament, so Slifer could be a big help."_

_"I don't know Ari. It seems a bit too dangerous." Yugi says._

_"This tournament is already dangerous, Yugi. We should out Slifer to good use." Yami adds._

"Attention finalists, please report to your assigned rooms. They will be granted by the help of your tournament ID." The intercom says.

We head up to the next level, where all of the rooms are. I swipe my ID card into the slot and enter my room. This room is like a small apartment! It has a bed, couch, coffee table, fridge, mini bar, and tons of food. I hear a knock and the door and open it to find Tea, Tristan, and Duke standing there, "Oh, hi guys." I say.

"Hey Sabrina. We just came to check out your room. We already saw Yugi's and it look about the same." Tea says.

"Nah, I think this one might be bigger." Tristan says.

"No way! Yugi's the King of Games, he has to have the bigger room!" Duke says.

"Well, does it really matter?" I say.

"No, it doesn't. So behave guys." Tea says.

"Yeah, and I'm sorry to say this, but can you guys leave, I want to look over my deck before the tournament starts." I say.

"Oh, of course. No problem, we'll just go and see how Joey's doing!"

The three of them leave so I'm left alone, besides having Ari with me. I grab a soda from the fridge and open it up. I gulp down part of it and then set it on the table. I pull up a chair and start looking through me deck. _"I hope Yugi took our advice and decided to use Slifer." I say to Ari._

_"Yeah, this tournament seems like it will be a clash between the three of them. Anyone without one of them will be taken out quickly." She says._

_"But we don't have one. Doesn't that mean that we're going to lose?"_

_"I feel that the Egyptian Gods have more of a relation to us than you may think. Remember that time when you entered my soul room with Shadi?"_

_"Yeah, back in Duelist Kingdom. What about it?"_

_"You told me that you encountered a dragon in one of the rooms, and that you were able to call it off from attacking."_

_"Yeah, that thing was huge. I don't know why it was trying to guard your mind so heavily."_

_"What did it look like?"_

_"It was like a serpent. Its roar sounded like a lion. And, wait, wait, wait. Was that creature Slifer?"_

_"It could have been. I have ties with the Egyptian Gods, but I don't know why. But I feel that I'll soon know the answers."_

The TV screen on the wall then lights up. I look over to see Roland on the screen, "Attention, would all Battle City finalists report in the main hall. The finals are about to begin." He says.

I gather up my cards and put my deck into my Duel Disk. _"I think it's your turn Ari." I say._

~Ari~ 

"Alright, the fate of the world is in the hands of us." I say.

**Yeah, I decided to end the chapter there, dramatic effect or something. I want to say that I'll post the next chapter tonight, but I'm going to be busy the rest of the day, so that's highly doubtful. And I'm not sure when I'll be able to post this week, since I have exams, but after, I get the entire summer to work!**


	12. Friendly Rivals

~Ari~

I open the door to my room and step out into the hallway. I look around and notice that no one is here, so I shut my door and start walking to the elevator. I hear another door open, so I turn around to see Yami exiting his room, "Hi Ari." He says walking up to me.

"Hi Yami." I say hugging him. Before we separate, he kisses my cheek.

We begin making our way over to the elevator. We step inside and press the button for the main hall. "So, how do you think Kaiba will work this tournament?" I ask him.

"I don't know. No doubt it's going to pretty elaborate since we're speaking of Kaiba. I just hope we don't have to duel each other."

I shrug, "Well whatever happens, happens. But I'm not going to hold back in this tournament, even if I'm going to face you."

"Then I'll do the same."

The elevator door opens to the main hall. Everyone is in there, mostly surrounding the food tables. "Oh hey, what took you guys so long?" Joey says while he stuffs his face.

"Sorry, we just wanted to fine tune our decks." I say.

Joey just shrugs and continues to eat. _I swear, with all that food he eats, how is he so skinny?_ Yami and I walk over to one of the food tables and start talking with the gang. "Hey Kaiba, come on, we're eager to see who we're going to duel." Joey says.

"You're so anxious to lose Wheeler." Kaiba says. He presses the 'KC' button on his trench coat, "Let's begin."

On a small stage in the back of the room, the floor opens up and a machine comes out of it. When the entire thing shows up, I get a better view; it looks almost like a lottery machine with the numbered balls inside, but there are three Blue-Eyes heads that I guess are supposed to dispense them. "Attention finalists, round one will be chosen by lottery." Roland says. "To guarantee fairness, each opponent will be chosen at random. You were all assigned a number 1-8. The next match won't be chosen until a winner has been declared from the first one."

Kaiba has 1, Joey has 2, Yugi has 3, Mai has 4, Namu has 5, I have 6, Marik has 7, and the unknown player has 8. "Start the machine." Roland says.

The balls begin to jumble around in the machine, until two of them are finally chosen. "Alright, the first duelist is number 2; Joey Wheeler." Roland says. "And the second duelist is… number 3; Yugi Muto!"

"Whoa! Joey and Yugi right off the bat!" Tristan says

"Duelist number 2 and 3, please follow me to the roof. The rest of you may watch the duel." Roland says.

I look over at Yami, "I'm sure you'll do fine." I say.

"I'd be hard facing Joey though. How am I supposed to defeat Marik when I risk kicking my best friend out of the tournament? I can't do that to Joey." He says.

"It's a decision that you're going to have to make. But I'll stand by you one-hundred percent."

I lean over to him and kiss him. None of the gang notices though, which is good. I separate from him, and he begins to walk over to the elevator designated for him and Joey. The rest of us make our way over to the other elevator to go and watch the door. We all enter and the doors shut. "Man, this will be a pretty tough duel." Duke says.

"It will be the hardest one they have to face." Tea adds.

"The duel could go either way. I don't know what do you guys think?" Tristan says. The rest of them stay silent, "Aw come on guys, give your opinions! What do you think Sabrina?"

The gang knows that I live within the Pendant, but they still call me Sabrina out of habit I guess. "The duel will go either way. It's going to be hard for them. But if the world is to survive, then Yugi has to win it." I say.

They all just raise an eyebrow at me. I just shrug and turn my attention back to myself. The doors to the elevator open to find the night sky above us, and a dueling field in the middle of a long platform across the roof. Yami and Joey are standing there getting ready to duel.

"I'm giving this my all Yug', so don't hold back on me." Joey says.

"I wasn't planning on it Joey." Yami says.

Roland clears his throat, "Alright, the duel between Yugi Muto and Joey Wheeler will now commence!" he says.

_Here we go._ Yami has the first move, he draws, "I set one card face-down and play the Celtic Guardian in attack mode!" he says, "That ends my turn."

"Then I'll also play a card face-down and place a monster in defense mode. Back to you Yugi." Joey says.

"I'll use my face-down; Dust Tornado, to destroy your face-down!" it was Nutrient Z, "And then I'll sacrifice my Celtic Guardian in order to summon Dark Magician Girl! Dark Magician Girl, attack!"

Joey's monster was Swordsman of Landstar. "Okay, I activate Silent Doom to bring back my Swordsman of Landstar. And then I'll sacrifice it to summon the Legendary Fisherman!"

"But Joey, you're fisherman is still no match for my Dark Magician Girl." Yami says.

"I know, that's why I'm equipping him with my Kunai with Chain! It allows me to raise my Fisherman's attack to 2350! Fisherman, attack!"

Yami now has 3650 Life Points. Yami then sets a monster and ends his turn. Joey draws and then has Legendary Fisherman attack his monster, which was Silver Fang. "Good move Joey, but not good enough. I activate Change of Heart so I may take control of your Fisherman. Now my Fisherman, attack his Life Points directly!"

Joey is at 1650 Life Points now. Joey passes his turn. Yami draws, "First, I'll set two cards face-down. And then I'll activate Card Destruction, so we both have to discard the cards in our hand and draw the same amount from our decks. And then I'll summon a monster in defense mode and end my turn." He says.

"I summon Battle Warrior in attack mode! Legendary Fisherman, attack his defense mode monster!" It was Giant Soldier of Stone. "And then, Battle Warrior, attack him directly!"

"Hold on Joey! I activate Magic Cylinder, to redirect the damage I would have taken right back at your Life Points." Joey now has 950 Life Points. "My turn now. I'll activate my face-down, Monster Reborn to bring back the Dark Magician I had to discard earlier. Dark Magician, attack his Legendary Fisherman!"

Joey has 800 Life Points left. "I switch Battle Warrior into defense mode and set one card. Back to you, Yugi."

Yami sets a card and has Dark Magician destroy Battle Warrior. Joey sets another card, along with a monster. Yami has Dark Magician attack Joey's monster, which was Panther Warrior and destroys it. Joey passes his turn. Yami draws, "I set one card and then have Dark Magician attack you directly!" he says.

"This isn't over yet Yugi. I activate ScapeGoat! Now I have four monsters to protect my Life Points."

Joey passes his turn. Yami activates Graceful Charity then uses Magic Formula to lift Dark Magician's attack to 3200. Dark Magician then attacks one of the Scapegoats. Joey draws, "Okay I'll activate Shield and Sword to drop Dark Magician's attack to 2100. Then, I summon Alligator Sword in attack mode. I'll also play Skull Dice to decrease your Magician's attack. And I roll a… six! Now your Magician has the same attack as my Alligator, so I'll have him attack to rid it from the field!" Joey says.

"Well played Joey. I set two cards face-down and summon Gazelle the King of Mythical Beasts in attack mode! Then I activate Soul Taker to destroy one of your Scapegoats, and have Gazelle attack another!" Yami says. Soul Taker also gives Joey 1000 Life Points, bringing him to 1800.

"I set one card and end my turn."

Yami draws, "Gazelle destroy his last Scapegoat!"

"I summon Axe Raider in attack mode! Then I'll activate Foolish Burial to send Gilford the Lightning to my Graveyard! Then, I'll activate Graverobber, allowing me to take one magic card from your Graveyard, and I choose your Monster Reborn! Then I use Monster Reborn to bring back Gilford!"

"Nice try Joey, but I activate Magic Jammer! If I discard one card from my hand, I can negate the effect of a magic card being played!"

"Then I also use Axe Raider to destroy your Gazelle!"

Yami now has 3450 Life Points. He sets a monster and ends his turn. Joey draws and summons Gearfried the Iron Knight in attack mode and has him attack Yami's defense mode monster. And then has Axe Raider attack him directly. Yami is left at 1750 Life Points now.

Yami draws, "I set one card and place a monster in defense mode. That ends my turn."

Joey draws, "Gearfried, destroy his monster!"

"The card you attacked was Big Shield Gardna. Due to its high defense power, you lose Life Points equal to the difference in defense from your attack. But now, it's switched to attack mode."

Joey has 1000 Life Points now, "Then Axe Raider, destroy Big Shield Gardna!"

"Not so fast, I activate Mirror Force! Now every monster on your side of the field is destroyed!" Yami says, "My move. I summon Gamma the Magnet Warrior in attack mode! I'm sorry Joey, but this duel has to end now, if the world is to survive."

"Go ahead Yug."

"Alright, forgive me my friend. Gamma, attack his Life Points and end this duel!"

Joey's Life Points drop to 0. I'm glad that Yami won, but it's also sad that Joey lost in the first duel. "The winner is duelist number 3; Yugi Muto!" Roland shouts.

The dueling field lowers so Joey and Yami can exit it. "Great duel Joey." Yami says.

"Thanks Yugi. I guess I should say the same to you." Joey says.

"Nice job guys." I say to them.

"Thanks."

"We're going to have a short break before the next duel, so go and head back to your rooms until we call you down." Roland says.

"Alright, that sounds like a good idea." I say.

**At first, I wasn't sure I was going to finish this today, but I did! And I'm sorry to the fans who like Joey, but I had to have him duel Yugi and get beaten due to some plot details.**


	13. Origin of Gods

~Sabrina~

"I wonder who'll duel next." Joey says.

"Not sure. Hopefully none of us have to duel Marik." I say.

Yugi, Joey, and I are standing in one of the hallways. We're not sure what to do during our half hour break. "So, what do you guys want to do?" Yugi asks.

"Well, I don't know about you two, but imma go take a nap." Joey says.

"Want us to wake you before the next duel?" I say.

"Yeah… sure… whatever." Joey says yawning. He walks into his room and shuts the door.

"What now?" I ask Yugi.

"I don't know. I'm just going to hang out in my room. Want to come with me?"

"Sure. I bet Yami and Ari will enjoy that."

Yugi chuckles and we go inside his room. I sit down in one of the armchairs, while Yugi places the cards in his deck across one of the tables. He begins to look over the cards and picks them up one at a time, "What are you doing?" I ask.

He turns the card he was looking at so it faces me; it's Slifer the Sky Dragon. "I don't know should I really use this?" he says.

"If you want to beat Marik, then yes. I don't know what you're so afraid of Yugi, Ari, Yami, and I all agree that you should use it. What's holding you back?"

"It seems too dangerous. I've seen Obelisk in action when Kaiba and I were dueling some Rare Hunters, and it almost killed the guy we were dueling. I just don't know if I should take advantage of that kind of power."

I try to think of something to say next, but I just turn my head over to the door. I end up falling straight out of my chair, "Whoa! When did you get here?!" I say.

Yugi turns his head toward the door, "Hey, I remember you, you're Shadi." He says.

"Yes, and I see that you have learned much since our meeting in Duelist Kingdom. You're beginning to understand your fate, the fate that intertwines with the spirits that live within your Millennium Items." Shadi says.

"Well, we know a little bit. Turns out that Yami was an ancient Pharaoh, and Ari was a Queen." Yugi says.

"Correct. The Pharaoh was the one who saved the earth, with the help of his Queen."

"So, why are you here then? Are you here to tell us more, or to just get a progress report?" I ask.

"I'm the one who guards all eight Millennium Items; I came here because I sensed a disturbance in their alignment. All eight of them are aboard this vessel, along with the Egyptian God cards. Each of these holds the keys to mass destruction."

"Wait, all eight? Does that mean Bakura is here?" I ask.

"I'm not sure. It was possibly stolen. I'm asking you two to make sure none of the Items or Egyptian God cards are put into the wrong hands. The results could be catastrophic, just like back when Pegasus created Duel Monsters."

"It did? How?" Yugi says.

"It all began when Pegasus first came to Egypt. He was searching for a method to reunite him with his lost love. His quest brought him to me, where I gave him the Millennium Eye. Although he didn't know it, he was destined to use it. Soon after, he discovered the origin of the Ancient Egyptian Shadow Games. Pegasus became obsessed with these games and decided to dedicate his life to recreating them. He wanted to resurrect the ancient powers he discovered. But, much to his surprise, it almost destroyed him. Pegasus didn't know his limits. He'd come to discover that he created a power far beyond his control. "

"So, how did Duel Monsters come to be?" Yugi asks.

"Pegasus grew more obsessed with it. He was determined to recreate the Shadow Games. And in the process, he discovered the Egyptian God monsters."

"So they almost destroyed him?" I ask.

"Yes, during one of his early research trips, he visited the pyramids of Egypt where he hoped to find the tablets of the Egyptian Gods he heard about. He searched vigorously, never quitting until he would be able to find them. Due to his persistence, I decided to help him out. I leaded Pegasus and his team of archaeologists to an underground chamber, long beneath the desert sands.

"Little did Pegasus know that the Pharaoh's tomb was guarded for millennia. Using my Millennium Key, I was able to guide us past the guards. After traveling by foot for hours, our journey came to an end. Pegasus entered the dim chamber, with his team close by him. As promised, it was the chamber of the three Egyptian God tablets. After seeing these beasts, he returned to America to make these images upon the stones. He was destined to awaken these beasts, but at a great cost. Unfortunately, each member of his archaeology team met with a painful death, one caused by the Egyptian Gods. Even with the deaths lingering around him, he refused to stop production, he even agreed to make the cards himself. But even if he was destined to create these monsters, he wasn't destined to control them.

"Pegasus completed the prototypes to all three cards, but he soon witnessed the power of these beasts and decided to return them to Egypt. He wanted to go back to the tomb and place the cards in the chamber by their original carvings. In Egypt, he met Ishizu Ishtar, who eventually helped him return the cards."

"So then Marik tried to steal them?" Yugi says.

"Yes, if he had all three, then the world will be in grave danger."

_"Sabrina, I want to take over, I have questions."_

_"Okay."_

~Ari~

"But Marik will never get his hands on them." Yami says.

"My Pharaoh, my Queen, it is an honor to meet you. My complete faith lies in you that the world will be saved again." Shadi says.

"Yes, but, what about that time that Sabrina entered my mind? She said that she encountered a dragon that was of similar designs to Slifer the Sky Dragon. Why did it obey her?" I say.

"The Egyptian Gods recognized her. They listened to you in the ancient past, and soon followed the Pharaoh. It was rumored that the Queen was born of these beasts, with a fraction of their powers within her."

"Well that gives a lot of closure."

"Will all the remaining finalists report to the main hall. The next two duelists will now be chosen!" Roland says over the intercom.

I look back over to see that Shadi is gone, "That's strange." I say.

Yami looks over, "Oh, well. I didn't expect him to stay forever. We should probably go wake up Joey." He says.

"Yeah."

The two of us exit Yugi's room and head into Joey's room. We open the door to find him lying on the floor snoring in the dark. I chuckle slightly, "Joey get up." I say.

More snoring. "Joey? Joey!" I yell.

He opens his eyes slightly, "Ah! Too much light! Close the door!" he yells.

"Joey, come on, you said you wanted to watch the next duel." Yami says.

"Oh, right, sorry Yug'." He says getting up from the floor.

"It's alright Joey."

"Come on guys, we don't want to do late." I say exiting the room.

**Alright, finally got this one up. Yeah! SCHOOLS OUT! Now I have more time to work on this! I hope to finish season 2 and 3 by the time September comes around, but I'm not sure if I'll get to that. Anyway, I hope everyone has a great summer!**


	14. Darkness Revealed

~Ari~

"Duelists may I have your attention. The second duel of the finals is about to begin." Roland says.

"That's right! Now the selector will choose the next two duelists!" Mokuba says.

The balls spin around in the Blue-Eyes selector until one of them decides to come out. A ball eventually comes out, "And the first duelist is number 6; Sabrina Cafford!" Roland says.

My eyes widen, "I wonder who I'll be dueling." I say.

"I'm sure you'll do fine whoever it is." Yami says squeezing my hand

The next ball then comes out of the selector, "And Sabrina's opponent will be number 7; Marik Ishtar!" Roland says.

My eyes widen even more and my heart starts pounding. _I have to face Marik?! Well, I guess I shouldn't be too surprised; one of us had to face him sometime. _I look over at Yami, who seems worried. "I'll do fine. You said it yourself." I say.

"Yeah, but, I didn't expect _you _to face Marik. I meant some other person like Kaiba or something." He says.

"Well, this is how it's going to be. I'll see you by the dueling field alright?"

"Okay, I'm cheering for you all the way." He says kissing my cheek.

I hug him quickly and then walk over to the elevator. Marik and Roland enter soon after and the door closes. The elevator is dead silent, almost like a graveyard. The doors then reopen to bring us to the dueling field. The field rises as soon as we enter it. "You can do it Sabrina!" Joey says.

"Don't let him psych you out!" Yami shouts

I nod at them. "Each player please shuffle each other's deck." Roland says.

I hand Marik my deck and he does the same. I watch his hands the entire time, just to make sure he doesn't pull some kind of scam, or put another card into my deck. I finish shuffling and give his deck back, he does the same. I notice that his eyes don't really show much hate or even the slightness of evil in them. But, who knows what this guy can do.

I walk over to my side of the field. Marik reaches into his cloak and pulls out… the Millennium Rod! "Hey! Don't even think of trying to control me! Play something fair for once!" I shout.

"Very well." He says putting the Rod back into his cloak. Did he just say very well? That's weird. For one, because this is the first time he's talked here, and two because he actually listened.

"Alright then, let's get this duel underway!" I say.

"Prepare to lose."

"I wouldn't count on it." My hand contains; Kaiser Sea Horse, Monster Reborn, Dark Hole, Mystical Elf, Fairy Witch, and Celtic Guardian. "Okay, I'll summon Kaiser Sea Horse in attack mode! That ends my turn." I say.

"I'll play Temple of the Kings. It limits the amount of magic and trap cards you can play in one turn. I also play two cards face-down, which will end my turn. So attack me if you dare." Marik says.

I draw Feral Imp. I won't attack; it's obviously a way for him to trigger one of his face-downs. "Okay, I play Celtic Guardian in attack mode and end my turn." I say.

"I pass this turn."

I draw Heavy Storm. This will be perfect to wipe out his face-downs, but should I really try and risk it being destroyed? I suppose I could try it. "I summon Feral Imp in attack mode! And then I use Heavy Storm!"

"No you won't, I activate Judgment of Anubis! This card will negate the effect of Heavy Storm. And as a second effect, it will destroy every monster on your side of the field, and make you lose Life Points equal to half of their attack points."

"What!?" Now my Life Points are at 1800. Marik sets one card and ends his turn. I draw Soul Exchange and then summon Mystical Elf face-down. Marik passes his turn. I draw Jack's Knight and do the same. Marik passes again. I draw Queen's Knight and summon it in attack mode, "You know, I bet with all these face-downs you have, I don't think you even have one monster card in your deck." I say.

"You'll see soon enough. I activate Embodiment of Apophis! This card is not only a trap; its monsters as well, with an attack power of 1600!"

I draw Meteor of Destruction. "Then I'll switch Queen's Knight into defense mode and activate Meteor of Destruction, giving you 1000 points of damage!"

"Not so fast, I activate Magic Jammer! By discarding one card, I can negate the effect of your Meteor. I pass my next turn."

I draw Spellbinding Circle. "I set one card face-down. Then, I activate Monster Reborn to bring back Kaiser Sea Horse! Kaiser Sea Horse, destroy one of his Embodiments!"

Marik has 3900 Life Points now. "I play Swords of Revealing Light, which prevent your monsters from attack for three turns!"

I draw King's Knight, "I play King's Knight in attack mode and then use his ability to special summon Jack's Knight! Your move."

Marik draws and stops dead. He stares at the card he drew, almost fearfully. What did he draw? He begins to calm down slightly, "I use the effect of Temple of the Kings to seal this card within it. By sealing this card of the Gods, I've sealed your fate!" Marik says.

Card of the Gods?! Did he place his Egyptian God card in there? If so, then I better try and end this quickly. I draw Divine Queen, "Alright, I sacrifice Kaiser Sea Horse and Mystical Elf in order to summon my Divine Queen! When your next turn ends, your Swords of Revealing Light will be gone, so I'll speed it up and end my turn from there."

"But your fate will be sealed here and now. I activate Cup of Sealed Soul! And I also use my face-down, Seal of Serket! With these cards combined, I'm able to summon my Mystical Beast of Serket!"

I cringe at the sight of it. I draw Luster Dragon, "I switch all of my monsters into defense mode and end my turn."

"Running scared are we? Well you should be. Beast of Serket, attack her Queen's Knight! Using the effect of my Serket, it can devoir any monster it destroys and will gain half of that monsters attack points, giving my Serket a power of 3250!"

I draw Dark Magician. I have no choice but to end my turn. Marik sends Serket to attack Divine Queen, giving it an attack power of 4475. I draw Dark Elf and end my turn. Serket attacks King's Knight, giving it 5275 attack. "You know, something inside of me is telling me that I'll win this Marik. That is, if you're the real deal." I say.

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm saying that maybe you're not the real Marik. Ever since this tournament started, Marik always hid behind others and made other people do his dirty work. And if you were the real thing, then wouldn't you have added some kind of twist on this duel? Every duel involving you seems to have some kind of catch or something with the Shadow Realm, but this time, there's nothing. Plus, this time, you're playing fair for once."

"Enough of this!" he reaches into his cloak and pulls out the Millennium Rod, "Only the real Marik would wield the Millennium Rod!"

I roll my eyes. The problem is that I don't feel anything coming from his Millennium Rod, it seems completely empty. Marik puts the Rod back into his cloak. He then looks at his Beast of Serket and seems like he wants to attack with it. Then he looks back to the Temple of the Kings with a worried expression on his face. Is he going to play his Egyptian God card?

"Get ready, because I'm going to prove I am the real Marik and by playing my Egyptian God card!"

"Fine, go right ahead. I'm ready for anything you throw at me."

"I offer my Beast of Serket and half of my Life Points to summon the Winged Dragon of Ra! Reveal your strength for the new Pharaoh; King Marik!"

The Temple begins to shake and then emits a huge beam of light that darkens the sky. Lightning begins to appear as the beast shows itself from the Temple. A flaming hawk-like creature then appears through the clouds with piercing red eyes. The wind begins to pick up, making me shutter. "The attack points of my Serket were transferred to Ra, giving it the power of 5275! And once it attacks, you'll wish you never entered this tournament!"

"Fine, maybe I will feel that way. But I will know that I tried my best, so go ahead, launch your attack." I say

I then feel my head emit a slight pain. What's going on? I can feel an aura of rage coming from somewhere nearby. "Winged Dragon of Ra, attack her!" Marik shouts. The beast stays still and doesn't do anything. Why doesn't it attack me?

Ra begins to glitch and almost disappears. Lightning begins to appear near us and almost shocks us. "Ari, get down from there!" Yami shouts.

A bolt of lightning then all of the sudden hits Marik. I notice that the Millennium Rod bursts into pieces. I knew he was a fake! The imposter Marik then falls over unconscious. I go to approach the man, but I hear a roar of thunder. I look up and then end up getting struck by lightning. I fall over in a surge of pain and the world turns black.

_I-I need to wake up. Even if that's not Marik, I can't risk giving up. "Get up Ari." Sabrina tells me. "I won't be able to take over now, so please do it."_

_"I'm not sure if I have the strength." I tell her._

_"You do. You're just not using it properly. We have more to strive for than any other Rare Hunter out there."_

_"I-I'll try."_

I open my eyes to notice that the field is still dark and clouded. I struggle to my knees and then weakly get onto my feet. "So the winner of the duel is Sabrina Cafford!" Roland announces.

_Alright, we won. _The dueling field lowers slightly, giving Yami the chance to run straight for me, "Are you alright?" he asks as he tries to help me keep my balance.

"Y-yeah, I'll be okay. I don't know about him though." I say.

Yami leads me over to the imposter and helps me onto my knees and we try to wake him up. His eyes twitch and he opens them, "Forgive me." He says.

"It's alright. But if you're not Marik, then who is?" I ask.

"My name is Odion and I am only a servant of the real Master Marik." He says pointing to Namu. _I knew there was something weird about that guy!_

Marik holds the Millennium Rod in his hand, which must be the real one. He also holds his head as if he's in intense pain. "Admit your true identity Marik!" Yami shouts.

Marik turns around to face us, "Yes, I'm the real Marik. So Pharaoh, we finally meet face-to-face. Now at last, I can finish the job my pathetic servants couldn't! Yugi… your Puzzle and power will soon be where they belong." His last few words are demonic, which is different from his normal voice. He then holds his head again in pain

"Oh no, I was afraid of this… Your all in great danger." Odion says, "Beware… the great evil… hidden within. Master Marik has a darker side to him, and I am unable to contain it anymore." With that said, Odion goes unconscious again.

"What is he talking about?" I ask Yami.

"I can't be contained anymore…" Marik says. He then yells in pain loudly.

"Marik, what is going on?" Yami says.

Marik stops clutching his face and the Eye of Wdjat is on his forehead, "I'm finally free again. This means I can do things my way. I was restrained for many years by that fool Odion." He says darkly.

"Who are you?" I ask.

"I'm the true Marik. And I'm not as kind as the other one you've come to know. And soon I'll finish the job he couldn't and strip the Pharaoh of his powers. For I deserve to be Pharaoh, not you. So get ready for the real battle. Once I'm through with you, your Puzzle will be around my neck and you'll be trapped in the world of eternal darkness, along with everyone else here. The only thing that fool Odion was good for is that he proved that only a chosen few can control the Egyptian God cards. The battle of the Gods will soon be upon us!"

**Hooray, Yami Marik (or Melvin) is free! Let the murders commence! Next chapter should be up tomorrow maybe.**


	15. Mind Game

~Ari~

"So, will he be alright doc?" Joey asks.

"So far Odion's heart rate seems fine. His tests also seem pretty normal. But that mental stress and the lightning have left him in a coma." The doctor says.

The doctor then leaves the room, leaving the gang and I standing here. "Man, I'm surprised that Sabrina wasn't in the same state he's in." Duke says.

"Yeah, I'm still not sure how I was even able to stand up." I say.

"But are you sure you're alright?" Yami asks.

"I'll be fine. At least I'm not in as bad a shape as Odion. But I wish he would wake up so we can learn more about him." I say.

"Yes, but we do know that he would do anything to protect Marik." Yami says.

"But for what! Odion's lying here practically dead, and Marik isn't doing a thing about it!" Joey yells.

"Yeah, but remember, Marik has that darker self controlling him. Didn't he say something about Odion keeping him under wraps?" I say.

"I think he did. But we can't do anything about it now. We mind as well go see who's dueling next." Yami says.

We all nod and walk out of the room. We go to the main hall where Kaiba, Mokuba, and Roland are waiting. The eighth duelist still hasn't showed up, and I don't see Marik either. The selector starts up and the balls jumble around. Two of them come out and Roland picks up the first one, "The first duelist is duelist number 4; Mai Valentine!" he says.

Mai doesn't seem excited or disappointed though. It's like she doesn't even care. "I'll see you guys by the field." Mai says walking away.

"Don't you want to see who you're going to duel?" I ask.

She shakes her head 'no'. "Well, okay, then we'll be cheering for you!" Joey says.

"Don't bother. I was a great duelist before I met all of you. I don't need friends to win a duel, I need power. See ya." Mai says walking away.

"Geez, what got into her?" I say.

Everyone just shrugs. "And the next duelist is…. Duelist number 5; Marik Ishtar!" Roland announces.

"Whoa! Mai's gonna face Marik!" Joey says.

"I hope she wins." Tea adds.

All of us go up to the dueling field to find Mai already there. We all stand around for a few minutes, due to waiting on Marik. "Where's that clown Marik? That announcement was broadcasted in every room." Kaiba says.

Almost on cue, the elevator door opens and Marik walks in. Only this time, he wears a black shirt, blue cape, and has the Eye of Wdjat on his forehead. "It's about time." Mai says as Marik steps onto the field.

"Don't worry, this won't take long. So prepare to be cast into the shadows." Marik says.

The duel starts with Mai going first. "I play Dunames Dark Witch in attack mode." She says.

"I'll summon my Revival Jam in defense mode. And I also activate Jam Breeding Machine; this card will give me one Slime Token each turn." Marik says.

Yami's eyes widen, "That's the same card that Marik used against me. He was trying to summon his Egyptian God card with that combo. Mai! Revival-!" he says.

"I don't need your help Yugi! So just keep your mouth shut!" Mai says, "Now my Witch, destroy his Revival Jam! That's it for Revival Jam."

"No it isn't, look again. Revival Jam is able to regenerate itself after its attacked. I'll play Pot of Greed, so I may draw two cards. Now my Jam Breeding Machine will create a Slime Token. And I'll set one card face-down."

"Then I'll play Harpie's Feather Duster, which will destroy every spell and trap on your side of the field. Now my Witch, destroy his Slime Token! I'll also set one card face-down."

Marik is down to 2700 Life Points. "I summon Melchid the Four-Face Beast in attack mode! Now I'll sacrifice my two monsters to summon Masked Beast Des Gardius! Now my Masked Beast, destroy her Witch!"

"No, I activate Mirror Wall! This destroys your Masked Beast and your Life Points are down to 2550!"

"But when my Masked Beast is destroyed, my Mask of Remnants attaches to your monster and allows me to take control of it. I also activate Remove Trap to destroy that Mirror Wall of yours."

Marik then grabs the Millennium Rod, "Listen up, practice time is over. It's time to take this duel to the original realm of Duel Monsters; the Shadow Realm! Let the Shadow Game begin!" he says.

"Oh no." Yami says. The sky darkens even more than it was and turns slightly purple. There's also a purple fog that covers the area, making breathing somewhat difficult.

"I wonder how Mai is going to stand up to this." I say.

"She won't last long. Mai! Listen to me! Forfeit now!" Yami says.

"It's going to take more than fog to stop me Yugi. I'm staying in this game until the very end!" she says.

"That's just stupid." I mutter.

Mai sets one card and plays the Unfriendly Amazon in attack mode. An aura then surrounds her monster, "What's going on?" Mai asks.

"Confused? The aura around your Amazon represents you, or your mind to be exact. If it's destroyed, then so will a portion of your mind. Don't worry, you'll see soon enough."

Unfriendly Amazon then destroys Dunames Dark Witch, bringing Marik to 2350 Life Points. "Nice attack, you were able to bring down my Life Points. But since that monster was originally yours, it will wipe out a portion of your memory." Marik says.

"What are you babbling on about?" Mai says.

"See Mai, each monster you play represents someone from your memory. So when it's destroyed, the memory of someone you know will be destroyed with it. And it looks like Tea will be the first victim to leave your mind. Now she's nothing more than a faceless phantom to you."

Mai now looks like she's in a daze. "Don't give up Mai!" Tea shouts.

Mai doesn't do anything. She just stares blankly forward. She looks like she hears Tea, but can't see her. "Alright, I set one card face-down and then summon Makyura the Destructor in attack mode." Marik says. "Next, I'll play this magic card; the Black Pendant to raise its attack power. Now Makyura, destroy her Unfriendly Amazon!"

"Activate trap; Amazon Archers! This card lowers Makyura's attack points, making my Amazon able to destroy it. Now this will erase someone from your mind." Mai says. Marik is down to 1950 Life Points.

"Why thank you. There's no one in my mind worth remembering. So go ahead, destroy all of my monsters, along with the memories of my pathetic servants. But there's also a catch to the Black Pendant, whenever its destroyed, my opponent loses 500 Life Points, bringing you to 3500. And when Makyura is sent to the Graveyard, it allows me to play any trap card from my hand. So I activate Rope of Life, bringing Makyura back from the Graveyard with more attack points. Now Makyura, attack!"

Mai is down to 3100 Life Points. "No Joey! Don't leave!" Mai shouts. She must have lost the memory of Joey now.

"Mai, are you alright?" Joey asks. Mai doesn't say anything, "Why is she ignoring us?"

"She's not ignoring you Joey, this Shadow Game is making her forget about us." Yami says.

"I wish we could help her somehow." I say.

"Maybe there is a way. By using the Millennium Puzzle, I may be able to bring some of her memories back." Yami says. I nod. The Eye of Wdjat appears on his forehead, as he starts searching through the shadows of Mai's mind.

Yami's forehead stops glowing and Mai seems a bit more alert and confident. "Okay I play Amazon Chain Master in attack mode, and then play one card face-down." Mai says.

"If you insist on playing weak monsters, then allow me to stop them. I play Holding Arms! Even with its low attack points, it will still stop your monster. Holding Arms has the ability to prevent your monster from attacking for three turns, which will be plenty of time to end this duel."

"Then I activate Grave Arm! This card can destroy one monster on the field, and I choose my Amazon Chain Master! This will activate my Amazon's effect. By bringing my Life Points to 2100, I can take one card from your deck, and I choose your Egyptian God card; the Winged Dragon of Ra!"

"You have it, but let's see if you can use it."

"Well it's my move. First I summon two cards face-down. And then I'll summon Amazon Fighter in attack mode!"

"Makyura, attack her Amazon Fighter now!"

"Hold on Marik, I activate Amazon Magician! This card swaps the attack points of my Amazon with Makyura. Amazon Fighter, destroy his Makyura!"

Marik is down to 1050 Life Points. "I never liked that fool Arkana. But now, I activate Card of Last Will! This card allows me to draw five cards. And since Makyura was destroyed, I can play a trap from my hand, and I choose Nightmare Wheel. This card will inflict 500 points of damage for each turn your Amazon Fighter is on the field."

"I expected a move like that, so I play Rescue Operation! This card returns Amazon Fighter to my hand and I can summon another monster from my deck. And the card I'll play is my Cyber Harpie! So now I play Graceful Charity, allowing me to draw three cards. Then I play Elegant Egotist to multiply my Harpie's by three! Now I'll sacrifice them to summon the Winged Dragon of Ra!"

A huge gust of wind shows up and then a white light appears in the sky. A golden sphere then appears. _Is that supposed to be the Winged Dragon of Ra? It looks nothing like the one I faced when I was dueling Odion. _"What in the world?" Mai says.

"The Winged Dragon of Ra is locked within that sphere. And you won't be able to use it in that form! I'm the only one who knows how to unlock it. And only those who follow the ancient scriptures can release Ra."

"Give me a break! You're just jealous that you lost your Egyptian God card to me!"

"Then why don't you try to read the ancient text written on the card? That's the ancient chant used to summon the Winged Dragon of Ra."

Mai stays silent as she looks at the card. "Well, why don't I read the chant and take control of my beast? And when it's back in my control, the attack from Ra will most certainly kill you." Marik says.

"What!?" Everyone says.

Marik continues to talk, "The words written on the card is a special form of hieroglyphics only known to my family. But I bet even Kaiba could read it. In fact, several people on this vessel would be able to read it, due to their ties with the ancient past where King's played Shadow Games as we're doing right now. So I'll ask you again, are you going to read the ancient text?"

Mai stays silent as she keeps looking at the card. She sets one card face-down and then ends her turn. Marik then plays Holding Legs. Its effect returns Mai's face-down to her hand. And its other effect summons the Sacred Stone of Ojhat. Holding Arms and Legs then grab control of Mai and chain her to the Sacred Stone. "Hey, I can't move, what kind of hologram is this?" Mai says.

"I didn't say this was a hologram. Since we're in the Shadow Realm, everything here is real."

"Marik, stop this now! This is going too far!" I yell.

"But things are just starting to get interesting! And besides, the time has come to awaken the Winged Dragon of Ra!" Marik says. He crosses his arms over his chest and starts saying the chant, "Great beast of the sky please hear my cry. Transform thyself from orb of light and bring me victory in this fight." The orb begins to glow and transform, "Envelop the deserts with your glow and cast your rage upon my foe. Unlock your powers from deep within so that together we may win. Appear in the shadows as I call your name; Winged Dragon of Ra!"

The Winged Dragon of Ra appears on the field and roars loudly. "Behold, my great beast! It's now time to end this duel!" Marik says. Ra has 5400 attack points, which is more than enough to destroy Mai.

"Marik! This has gone far enough! You don't have to end it this way! Mai doesn't deserve any of this!" I shout.

"That's true, but I'm just having a little fun up here! And there's nothing I like more than ending someone's life in the Shadow Realm." Marik says.

Joey then runs toward the dueling field, "Joey, what are you doing!?" Yami calls.

He goes up to Mai and tries to free her, but it doesn't work. "Now Winged Dragon of Ra, destroy them both!" Marik commands.

Joey refuses to leave though. The blast charges up in Ra's mouth and then fires. Yami runs toward the blast, "Yami, no!" I shout.

"That's enough!" he says. The blast hits him on his back, but Yami keeps blocking it. I'm afraid to even look, no matter how well he's able to stay standing. The blast stops firing and Yami falls over unconscious. I run up to him to see if he's alright, "Yami? Yami wake up!" I say.

"The winner of this duel is Marik Ishtar!" Roland announces.

The Shadow Realm disappears and we're back at the night sky. Yami still won't wake up though, "Get up, please!" I say.

"Well, what do we have here?" Marik says. He grabs the Millennium Rod and pulls the bottom part off to reveal a dagger.

"Get away from him!" I shout at him.

"I should just kill him now, but what's the fun in that? For now, let's make sure you don't interfere." All of the sudden Joey and I can't move. Marik places the bottom of the Millennium Rod back on and walks over to Mai, "I'm afraid you still have to live up to your end of the bargain my dear. We had an agreement, if I won then you'd go to the Shadow Realm, because that's how these games work right?" he says.

Joey and I are released from Marik's control and Mai collapses to the ground. "What did you do to Mai?" Joey says.

"Your friend is taking a visit to the Shadow Realm, but don't worry, as soon as I win this tournament and gain what I need, she won't be alone." Marik says.

Marik walks away from the dueling field and disappears inside the elevator. The gang comes over to us and tries to wake up Mai. Yami grunts and I notice that he's waking up. "Yami!" I say hugging him, "Are you alright?"

"I'll be fine, what about you guys? Are you all okay?" he says.

"Everyone except Mai. Marik took her to the Shadow Realm." I say.

Yami cringes. Kaiba then takes a step toward us, "Alright geeks, clear the field for the next duel! Because now it's my turn! And you'll really see how to duel!" he says.

**I'm trying to lean more toward the Japanese version due to 4Kids being a bunch of wimps. And I finally drew the cover image for this story, yay! **


	16. Destined to Duel

~Ari~

"Why isn't she waking up?" Serenity says.

"Her mind is in the Shadow Realm." Joey says.

"Isn't there anything we can do?" Tristan says.

"Not now." I say.

"Why don't you guys watch the next duel? I can stay here and watch Mai." Serenity says.

"You sure?" Joey says.

"Of course. All of you are so strong and brave, along with Mai. And I want to be just like her! So the least I can do is keep an eye on her."

"Alright, thanks sis."

All of us head back up to the roof where Kaiba is waiting to have his duel. The eighth duelist still isn't here though. But Marik did show up; joy. "If the eighth duelist doesn't show up in five minutes, Seto Kaiba will be given an automatic victory." Roland says.

We stand around for another minute, but still no sign of duelist number 8. Kaiba seems rather smug about it though, probably thinking that the person backed out when they found out who they were dueling. The light above the elevator lights up. That must be them.

The doors open to reveal a woman with tan skin and wearing a white dress, along with white cloths covering her head and face. She walks onto the dueling field, "You've got some nerve coming here late! Who do you think you are?" Kaiba says.

The woman takes off the cloth covering her face; Ishizu?! "What is your name?" Roland asks her.

"My name is Ishizu. Ishizu Ishtar." She says.

_Wait, Ishtar? Isn't that Marik's last name also? _"Is she related to Marik?" I say.

"It could be." Yami says.

"So you've come to win back Obelisk?" Kaiba says.

"I've come here for a greater importance. I need to save my brother." Ishizu says.

"Oh geez, we're already having enough trouble with one Ishtar." Joey says.

"Don't worry Joey, Ishizu's not like that. I hope." I say.

"Kaiba, as you know my Millennium Neclace has the power to gaze into the future, and it tells me that you'll lose this duel." Ishizu says.

"Enough with the Millennium Items! I don't believe in any of that crap! And just because you gave me Obelisk, doesn't mean I won't use it to destroy you. And I don't like the idea of you using my tournament to solve your little family issues, the only reason I started this was to claim my spot at the top!" Kaiba says.

"Have you forgotten that it was my idea to hold this tournament? That it would be used to lure in people like Marik. And it worked. But the only way to complete this task is to use the Pharaoh's help, the same one who lives within the Millennium Puzzle."

"How lame. You went through all that trouble just to follow some stupid Egyptian Fairytale? I must be surrounded by nitwits."

"But no matter how much you may deny it, you can trace your origins back to Egypt."

"Enough! I know who I am and I'm a far better duelist than you are! Let's just start this duel already!"

"Let the duel begin!" Roland announces

"I'll go first; I summon Vorse Raider in attack mode! Then I'll set one card face-down." Kaiba says.

Ishizu draws a card and doesn't bother to look at it, "I summon Keldo. I then activate Michizure of Doom. This card allows both of us to discard two cards from the other player's hand, and I choose Polymerization and Kaiser Glider."

"Now show me your hand!" Ishizu turns around her hand, "Discard Monster Reborn and Spell Reproduction!"

"As you wish." Ishizu says sending them to the Grave.

Kaiba has Vorse Raider attack Keldo, and then he sets one card. Ishizu summon Mudora in attack mode. She then activates Sword of Dogra to raise its attack. Mudora goes to attack Vorse Raider, but Kaiba activates Shrink to halve Vorse Raider's attack. Kaiba is now down to 2950 Life Points. Then he activates Crush Card to destroy every monster with 1500 or more ATK in Ishizu's deck. _But if she can see the future, then couldn't she see that coming? _Ishizu then activates Swords of Revealing Light and then sets one card.

Kaiba plays Dark Gremlin in defense mode. Then he sets one card face-down. Ishizu draws and passes her turn. Kaiba draws then also passes. Ishizu draws and passes again. Kaiba does the same. Ishizu passes again. Swords of Revealing Light goes away now. Kaiba draws, "Dark Gremlin attack her directly!" he says.

Ishizu is down to 2400 Life Points. "Now I activate Virus Cannon, to send all magic cards in your deck and hand to the Graveyard! Man, as if your deck wasn't pathetic enough! Still think I'm going to lose this Ishizu?" Kaiba says.

"Yes Kaiba, you've sealed your own fate." Ishizu says.

"Nonsense. I've heard enough of your false predictions."

"My predictions are quite real. And now you've fallen straight into my trap; reveal Exchange of the Spirit! At a cost of 1000 Life Points, we swap the cards in our decks with the ones in our Graveyard."

That leaves Kaiba with only six cards, and Ishizu with all of her powerful monsters and magic cards. "I'll also summon Kelbek in attack mode and set one card." Ishizu says. "And the card you're going to draw is Virus Cannon. You can't escape destiny Kaiba. So go ahead, play your trap."

"I'll make my move when I want to! So I activate Virus Cannon!" Kaiba yells.

"My trap will destroy it. I activate Muko, which will negate the effect and send Virus Cannon straight to the Graveyard. And I believe it's my turn now. I summon Zolga in attack mode, now I'll have it destroy your Dark Gremlin!"

Kaiba is down to 2850 Life Points. Kelbek also attacks him directly, leaving him at 1350. Ishizu also sets one card. "I draw!" Kaiba says.

"Activate Muko! Now your drawn card is destroyed."

Man, Ishizu might win this. Kaiba sets one card. "I'll set one card. And then I'll summon Agido in attack mode." Ishizu says.

"Now I activate Soul Exchange! Now all of your monsters belong to me! Now I'll sacrifice these monsters in order to summon my Egyptian God card! Show yourself, Obelisk the Tormentor!"

A blast of blue light appears behind Kaiba and Obelisk shows up on the field. _Ishizu still predicts that she'll win, but how will she take down a beast like Obelisk? Is the Millennium Necklace wrong? Or does she have some kind of strategy for this? _"Obelisk, attack her directly!" Kaiba demands.

I then look over at Marik to see the Millennium Rod glowing brightly. What's going on? Kaiba then stops demanding the attack and just stands there; motionless. "Why is the Millennium Rod affecting Kaiba?" I ask.

"I'm not sure; it must have something to do with his connection to the ancient past." Yami says.

Our attention then turns back to Kaiba, who seems back in the game, "I activate Silent Doom! This card allows me to summon one monster from my Graveyard, and I choose Gadget Soldier in defense mode! The time is now, I decide my future!" he says.

"What's he planning?" Yami says.

"I sacrifice Obelisk the Tormentor and Gadget Soldier to summon my Blue-Eyes White Dragon! Ishizu, if you can see all of my moves, then why does Blue-Eyes surprise you? Time to finish this, Blue-Eyes White Dragon, attack her directly!"

Ishizu's Life Points drops to zero, winning Kaiba the duel. "The winner of this duel is Seto Kaiba! Roland announces.

"Very good Kaiba, you were able to overcome the power of my Millennium Necklace. I hope this teaches you a lesson in destiny." Ishizu says.

"Save it. The only reason I won this duel was because I'm the superior duelist. And I'll win this tournament to prove myself as the number one duelist in the world!"

"But you did teach me a lesson. You've taught me not to rely on my Millennium Necklace for everything, but to see destiny with my own eyes. You've given me hope for the future of my brother. So, thank you."

"Whatever. Believe what you want to." Kaiba says as he walks off the dueling field.

_Well, the quarter-finals are over. I wonder what who destiny will pair up for the next duels._

**Hmm, maybe that was a cheesy last line, but hey, I don't care. I'm going to give a heads-up now, okay? The Virtual World arc will be in this story, NOT in its own separate one. I feel that it will save everyone time and plus Battle City is still at the end of season 3.**


	17. Ishizu Tells All

~Sabrina~

"Attention duelists, the first round of the Battle City finals are complete. Our four finalists are; Yugi Muto, Sabrina Cafford, Marik Ishtar, and Seto Kaiba. The duels will continue tomorrow when we reach our next destination. For tonight, please enjoy yourselves." Roland says over the intercom.

"I guess we're not dueling on the blimp anymore." Yugi says.

"But I guess the important thing is that we made it this far." I say.

"Yeah."

"Well, you guys should probably get some rest. I mean, who knows what will happen in the duels tomorrow." Tea says.

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. But first, how about we check on Mai?" Yugi says.

We walk over to Mai's room, and are about to enter it- "Greetings." Ishizu says. We turn around to find her standing behind us.

"Oh, hello Ishizu." I say.

"I'm sorry to hear about your friend. May I pay her a visit with you?"

"I don't see why not." Yugi says.

We all enter the room to find Serenity still sitting by the bed watching Mai. But, Mai still seems near no point of waking up soon. "Has she even moved?" Joey asks.

"No, she really hasn't done anything." Serenity says.

"Poor Mai. I wish we could do something." Joey says.

"There is still hope though." Ishizu says, "When there is evil, there is also good. Mariik was good once… He was a mere innocent child, but that innocence grew into rage, leaving nothing but the person you see now."

"But what if it's too late to save Marik? You told me that I needed to defeat Marik in order to save the world, and that's my goal right now." Yugi says.

"That's right. I mean, what if the Good Marik is destroyed along with the evil one?" I say.

"Yeah, and I really don't see Marik of ever being a nice person." Joey says.

"You must trust me. I know my brother isn't gone, there's hope out there." Ishizu says.

"By the way. If you don't mind me asking, how did Mariik turn evil?" I say.

"It wasn't long ago that Marik began to lean into the darkness. For generations, the Ishatr family was given the task of guarding the Pharaoh's tomb. We lived in secrecy, deep within the desert sands. All of us were kept in a bunker near the tomb, and we weren't allowed to exit the bunker and go outside.

"The first born Ishtar son is required to wear the Pharaoh's secret on his back; which Marik was the one who fit that role. Our father was very strict about the idea of us going outside, but Marik always dreamed of it. Even after Marik received the Tombkeeper's Initiation, he still dreamed of visiting the outside world; it was a topic that he always discussed after Father went to sleep.

"About a year after the Initiation, I finally agreed for Marik and I to go outside for an hour. Odion insisted that he would cover for us. On the dawn of one morning, we opened the door to the outside world and began our quest. Of course, I knew we were violating thousands of years of tradition. And I also knew that Marik deserved to see the outside world at least once in his life. But I didn't know that this exposure would allow his inner darkness to grow.

"Marik was hard to keep up with. It seemed like he never wanted to leave the outside world. Soon enough, I realized that I needed to get Marik home; he'd already seen too much. Before we reached home, we encountered a strange man, he said "The Pharaoh will return soon and that if you reject your duties, the future will hold nothing but darkness." I now know what he meant by that. Before I could ask him to tell me more, he vanished. By that time I knew that I made a huge mistake, I should never have exposed Marik to the outside world. But now that he'd seen that world, he would never forget it.

"When we reached home, Marik noticed an alarm just above the door. I didn't see it in the dark. But by the time we reached the tomb, Odion was missing and our room was a mess. We had found Odion soon after, but he had been whipped badly by our father. With seeing Odion in such pain, Marik's darkness had finally reached the surface. We were unable to stop him from murdering our father. But Odion was able to return Marik to his original self. The stranger showed up again out of nowhere, and Marik believed that _he _was the one who killed our father. From then on, Marik started devoting his life to collecting the Egyptian God cards and gaining the Pharaoh's power."

"So are we supposed to feel bad for that spoiled brat?" Joey says.

Ishizu just seems to ignore him though, "Yugi, I realize now that it is possible to destroy the evil within my brother, without destroying the good side. I also know that destinies can be changed. With the Pharaoh that lives within you, I'm sure you'll be able to do it."

"Attention, lights out in two minutes." The intercom says.

"Alright! Time to crash in Joey's room!" Tristan says.

"What! No way! You're not going anywhere!" Joey says. Joey, Tristan and Tea run out the door, leaving Ishizu, Yugi and I.

"There is also one more thing I must give to you two." Ishizu says. She unties the Millennium Necklace from her neck and holds it in her hands, "Fate chose me to hold this Item, but I think it's time for me to pass on its power to those ready to save the world from darkness. So here, take it."

"Wow, thanks Ishizu." Yugi says taking it.

Yugi and I exit Mai's room and go into our own rooms. I take off my shoes and the black shirt I'm wearing over my white tank top and get into bed. I fall asleep soon after.

I wake up a while later in the middle of the night. I look around and then hear a banging coming from upstairs. _What on earth could that be?_ _"Ari, what do you think is going on?" I ask her._

_She appears next to me, "I don't know. It seems like it's coming from the roof. I can sense Marik up there though." She says._

_"I'm going to check it out." I say as I get my shoes on._

_"Bring Yugi. You may need him; who knows what Marik is planning."_

_"Alright."_

I get up and walk over to Yugi's room. I knock on his door and wait for him to answer. Nothing. I knock again; still nothing. "Yugi, open the door!" I say.

"Huh? Who's there?" I hear him say.

"Who do you think?"

The door opens to find a sleepy-looking Yugi standing there, "What is it?" he asks rubbing his eyes.

"I heard a banging coming from the roof." I say.

"It's probably just the air conditioning or something."

"I can sense Marik up there."

Yugi's face then turns serious, "Alright, let me get my shoes on." He says.

Yugi reappears wearing his shoes and blue jacket. The two of us walk over to the elevator quickly, but are careful not to wake the others. "So, what do you think Marik is doing?" Yugi asks as the elevator starts moving.

"I don't know. But it can't be good." I say.

The elevator stops when we reach the roof and the doors open. Right where the dueling field is supposed to be is a cloud of swirling black and purple smoke. The Shadow Realm. "Who do you think he's dueling?" I say.

"I don't know." Yugi says.

_"You guys should let us take over." Ari says._

_"Yeah, this could get dangerous." Yami adds._

"Alright."

~Ari~

The air is cold out, which makes me shiver. "You okay?" Yami asks.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I say.

"Let's see if we can get inside that dome."

"Okay."

The two of us walk up to the dome of shadows and try to walk through it. Surprisingly, we get inside with ease. Inside, is Marik just standing on top of the dueling field. "What are you doing here Marik?" I ask.

He turns around to face us. I notice that he has something in his hand, but I can't tell what it is. "Hello Pharaoh, I'm afraid you missed the big show." Marik says.

"What are you talking about?" Yami asks.

Marik lifts the thing he's holding. It hangs from a rope and looks golden. Wait, is that the Millennium Ring?! "Where did you get that!" I say.

"The Spirit within it apparently was teamed up with my good side. But of course, they lost and now live within the Shadow Realm. Now if you excuse me, I have some unfinished business to attend to." Marik says.

The Shadow Realm disappears, and the night sky is visible. Marik walks by us as he spins the Ring in his hand. I clench my fist as he disappears inside the elevator. "Man, I hate that guy." I say.

"It's hard not to. This gives even more of a reason for us to stop Marik." Yami says.

"Yeah, but he'll be defeated soon; that's a promise."

"But for now, we should get some sleep. The finals will continue tomorrow."

"Alright." I kiss him goodnight and then we head back downstairs.

**Sorry about the delay for this chapter, but my computer broke a week before my 7-day vacation, so yeah. The computer I'm using at the moment is super slow and absolutely will not cooperate usually, so this will drive me crazy until my laptop is fixed. I may be able to release the first chapter of the Virtual World soon, but when the chapter comes when Sabrina starts dueling there (spoiler) the wait will be longer, since I can't get onto Dueling Network to construct the duel.**

**FYI: THE VIRTUAL WORLD WILL BE IN THE 'BATTLE CITY' STORY BECAUSE THE END OF SEASON 3 STILL HAS BATTLE CITY IN IT. (Sorry for caps)**


	18. Return to Virtual

~Sabrina~

"Will all finalists report downstairs? Kaiba Craft 3 is about to make it's descent on Kaiba Corp. Island." The intercom says.

I get up from my bed and start getting ready. I barely slept last night with everything that happened. Too many questions went through my head. Because I mean, how did Bakura get onto the blimp and end up dueling Marik? Did he sneak on board after that duel with Yugi? It's probably so.

I'm immediately snapped out of my thoughts when the blimp shakes. I fall right off my bed and onto the floor. What happened? I put on my black shirt, shoes, and Duel Disk on and then walk over to Yugi's room as I finish putting up my hair. "Yugi? You there?" I say through the door.

"Yeah, give me a second." He says.

He then opens the door, "Hey Sabrina. Did you feel that shaking?" he says.

"Yeah, that's why I came over here." I say.

The rest of the gang soon comes out into the hallway, "Did the shaking wake you guys up?" Tea asks.

"I was already awake." I say.

"Man and I was enjoying my sleep!" Joey says, "I'm going to give Kaiba a piece of my mind! Stupid jerk, trying to ruin my sleep time…" he mutters.

The rest of us shrug and then follow Joey into the elevator. We take it to the floor of the Command Center. "Should we knock?" Tea says as we reach the door.

"Heck with knocking! I'll bust that door down!" Joey says as he opens it. Kaiba, Mokuba, and a few employees are already there. "Hey! What's da matter! Some of us like to sleep around here!" Joey yells.

The blimp then turns to the left, "Sir, the autopilot still isn't working. Nothing is commanding." Roland says.

"Then make it command!" Kaiba orders.

"It won't."

"I pay you good money! And unless you want to flush that money down the toilet, then I suggest you get us back on course. Do whatever it takes to get us on Kaiba Corp. Island!"

I look ahead and notice an island not too far away. It's covered in rubble and has a huge tower right in the center. "Is that the final dueling site?" Yugi asks.

"It is. I built it out of the ruins of my stepfather's sad excuse for a company." Kaiba says.

"Yeah! Kaiba Corp. wasn't always a gaming company. It used to be run by our stepfather, who used it to produce military weapons." Mokuba says, "But since Seto took over, all that changed. That island used to be their headquarters, but then Seto took down all the factories and built that tower."

"That's enough Mokuba!" Kaiba demands. I guess the subject of their stepfather is pretty sensitive. But that doesn't really surprise me.

"I got it! Someone is controlling the craft from a different location." Roland says. The blimp then falls rapidly near the ocean, making me think we're going to crash. We hit the surface of the ocean, which makes me fall over on my stomach. Ouch. The blimp then gains altitude again.

"Is everyone alright?" Roland asks.

"I think so." I say as I get to my feet.

The monitor above the controls then goes fuzzy. What now? "Greetings duelists." A boy with greenish hair and blue eyes then appears on the screen, "Don't worry, there's nothing wrong with your television. I'm the one who's in control now."

"Identify yourself!" Kaiba demands.

"Always barking orders aren't you? I've been watching you Seto, and I think it's my turn to take over. You'll also have to put an end on your little tournament."

"Look kid, what's your name?"

"There you go again. But fine, my name is Noah. And you and I go back quite a long way Seto. And my game has only just begun, so enjoy the ride." The screen goes blank again. I wonder what he meant by that.

A huge wave then appears on the water below us. Then a fortress lifts itself out of the water. Geez, who is this kid? "It seems that fortress is using a tractor beam to pull us in." Roland says. A hatch on the fortress opens and the blimp starts to land. The blimp then lands in a large, dark chamber.

The monitor then lights up again, "Thanks for waiting. But now is the time for you to exit the blimp." Noah says.

"And what if we don't?" Kaiba says.

"I have ways to deal with that."

Guns then appear out of the chamber walls. Okay, since when does a kid of his age have the time and money to get this stuff? Kaiba then goes to the door, "You geeks stay here." He says.

"Kaiba don't!" Yugi says.

"This is my tournament. I'm not going to let some toddler ruin this for me."

The guns start firing at the blimp, but soon stop."No Seto. Let's try this again. All of you are coming." Noah says.

So Yugi, Kaiba, Mokuba, Joey, Duke, Tristan, Serenity, Tea, and I exit the blimp. A set of doors then open ahead of us, "Make your way over here so we can continue this." Noah says. He's not visible, but his voice is heard all around us.

"Mister Kaiba, wait!" Roland calls.

Noah fires the guns at him, but misses, "You'll stay right there. This is for duelists only."

But Tristan, Serenity, Duke, and Tea aren't really duelists. Noah needs to get his facts right. All of us walk through the door and enter a hallway. It's long and has minimal light. We finally reach the end of it, where another door opens.

The room we enter is pitch-black and I can't tell if anyone is here. "Anyone here?" Tea calls.

A blinding white light then appears in front of us and I can hear laughing. "Who's there? Show yourselves!" Kaiba demands.

The figures are visible now. "No way!" Kaiba says. It's the Big Five! The jerks that tried to kill all of us in a computer game.

"Who are these guys?" Tristan asks.

"They're the Big Five. They used to work for Kaiba Corp, but lost that when they turned on us. Their names are Gansly, Crump, Johnson, Nexbitt, and Lector." Mokuba informs.

"You should have known we'd be back Seto Kaiba." Gansly says.

"Yeah, but, I thought we destroyed them back in the Virtual World." Yugi says.

"We were actually just trapped there." Crump says.

"We wandered cyberspace for ages."

"But then Noah hacked into the Kaiba Corp system."

"We all had a common enemy, so we teamed up."

"Enough! I defeated you once, and I'll do it again!" Kaiba says.

"Yes, but we've devised a new plan. We're going to set up our own Duel Monsters tournament. But this time, it's virtual. And all of you will participate. We've wandered this place so long that we've lost our bodies, but once we duel you and win, we'll be free to take your bodies. Now it's time to visit our arena!"

The blinding light comes back and then when I have the chance to open my eyes, we're surrounded by trees. Oh great, we're here again. "Everyone okay?" Yugi asks.

"Yeah. What is this a jungle?" I say.

"I think so. You sure this is virtual?" Tea asks.

"Of course it is you geeks. Weren't you paying attention?" Kaiba says.

A loud thumping rumbles the ground. A dinosaur then appears by us, "Get out of the way!" Tea yells.

Kaiba just stands there. The dinosaur goes to claw him, but goes right through him. "Just as I thought. Noah's virtual world is a cheap copy of mine." Kaiba says smirking.

I look around to see nothing around us. I hear footsteps and look to see Kaiba standing there. Only, he's wearing his old outfit, "Let me guess. That's also a cheap copy made by Noah?" I say.

"No doubt. He even copied my idea of cloning myself in here." Kaiba says.

"Why would you clone yourself?" Tea asks.

"To have someone to duel. And who better than me?"

The Total Defense Shogun then appears on the other side of the Clone Kaiba. "We're going to give you a little demonstration of the new rules of this place." I hear Gansly say.

"What kind of rules?" I ask.

"Just shut up and listen. We'll be using the Deck Master system, meaning each duelist chooses a Deck Master. For our Clone Kaiba, he gets Blue-Eyes White Dragon and Total Defense Shogun plays himself. Now watch the demonstration."

The Clone Kaiba draws from his Duel Disk, "I play Lord of Dragon in attack mode! Then I activate the Flute of Summoning Dragon to summon two of my Blue-Eyes White Dragons! Then I move my Deck Master onto the field and use Polymerization to fuse all three to summon Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon!" he says.

"And the ability of your Deck Master allows you to attack the turn you summon it."

"Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon, attack his Deck Master!"

"But Total Defense Shogun has the ability to redirect the attack right back; destroying Kaiba's Deck Master. If your Deck Master is destroyed, then you automatically lose, regardless of the amount of Life Points you have."

"Enough! Regardless the rules, I'll send you five back where you came from!" Kaiba yells.

The virtual jungle disappears and we're back in the dark room. "But to make this equal, we'll duel against every one of you." Crump adds.

"Now the time has come to visit our virtual arena." Gansly says.

"You creeps are going down!" Joey says. A hole appears below Joey's feet and he falls into it. It disappears a second later.

"In order for our plan to work, we'll have to separate you." Crump says.

Tea is taken next, then Serenity, then Duke and Tristan. Kaiba and Mokuba are taken next. "Where'd they go?" I ask Yugi.

"You'll soon find out." Gansly says.

A hole appears below me, before I can try and get away though, I fall into it.

**Okay, I started Season 3! And I got my laptop fixed so hopefully there won't be too many more delays. I hope to start the duels soon. And sorry if I suck at the Yami/Ari scenes since I've never known what being in love is like, but I'll try to work on them and make them longer/better. **


	19. A Frozen Duel

~Sabrina~

A chill runs through my body. I open my eyes to find that I'm lying in a soft blanket of snow. What happened? Oh yeah, we're in the Virtual World again.

I get up onto my knees and pick up a handful of snow. My hand turns pink and then starts to hurt from the cold. Strange, it's almost as if the snow is real. I drop the snow back on the ground and look around; there's no one else here. _"Ari, what should we do?" I ask._

_"We should start looking for the others. No doubt we've all been separated to become easy prey for the Big Five." She says._

_"Yeah, but where should we start looking?"_

_She looks around for a moment, "Try over there. I can sense someone not too far." She says pointing to my left._

_"Okay."_

I start walking off in that direction. The climate quickly changes and now I'm in a forest. Some parts of the grass are still covered in snow, but are in the process of melting. All this walking around aimlessly is starting to remind me of Battle City, just waiting for someone to show up.

The trees start to thin out and I notice a huge castle up ahead. It's pretty obvious there's no one I'm looking for inside it. The trees disappear and there's a beach up ahead. Wait; are those penguins on that beach? I take a few steps closer; those are penguins.

Why are there penguins in the Virtual World? I know Kaiba doesn't have the heart to put animals in here. I take a look back at the castle. It looks almost more like a temple from here, and has a large staircase leading up to it. What have I got to lose if I go inside? Then again, one of the Big Five could be there. _"Ari, what now?" I ask._

_She thinks this over for a moment, "I don't know. The Virtual World is probably loaded with traps. But then again, the castle could have a passageway to get to the gang. It's your call on this one." She says._

_"Well, if there is a passageway to get to the gang, then we shouldn't pass this up. And if one of the Big Five gets in the way, I suppose we can try and avoid them. They can't make us duel can they?"_

_"They might be able to. They designed this world to their advantage, but I doubt they can control our freewill."_

_"Then I say let's go for it."_

I walk up to the staircase. I look around and notice the hordes of penguins at the beach are watching me carefully. Just ignore them Sabrina, ignore them. I start walking up the staircase and finally reach the top of it.

No one is along the outside. I go and open the door and walk inside. It's dark, but I can see penguins standing in groups along the walls. What is with all the penguins!? "Um… anyone here?" I say.

"Of course. There are penguins all around you." A voice echoes off the walls.

"I know that. I meant is there anyone here that doesn't have feathers."

"Nope. There is no one but us penguins Sabrina Cafford."

"Okay, who are you?"

A penguin wearing a suit appears on a desk in the middle of the room, "But don't you know?"

"You're probably one of the Big Five. Only a fool like you guys would have that kind of form."

"You've done your numbers correctly. And the name is Crump, former accountant of Kaiba Corp. Now let's check the numbers. I'd say there's a 100% chance that we're going to duel."

"Why would I duel you?"

"Because you're going to give me the chance to leave this world with your body. And I can't contain my joy at the thought of living in a female body. I've lost my own body and have been trapped in this penguin form. And as much as I love penguins, I still would prefer a nice female body like yours."

How was this guy even hired by Kaiba Corp in the first place? He's a freaking pervert. "There's no way I'm dueling you. Have fun with your penguins." I say. I run out of there as fast as I possibly can. I make my way down the staircase, with the penguins still watching me.

I take another step and then the entire staircase collapses. I fall into a black void and then land on a platform made of ice. The ice is surrounded by water though. Another platform appears across from me with Crump standing on it. Can't anyone play fair anymore? _"Sabrina, let me take over." Ari says._

_"Okay."_

~Ari~

"And my numbers are correct. We'll have to pick our virtual decks now. Pick the cards you want from the grid next to you." He says.

A small grid of cards appears next to me. I pick most of the cards that are in my original deck. "Now you must choose your Deck Master, it can be any monster in your deck." Crump says.

I begin to look through my monster cards. "Okay, I'll pick this; Divine Queen!" I say.

"My Deck Master is myself. I'm already in the form of the Nightmare Penguin."

"Fine, let's just get this over with. I'll take the first move."

I draw six cards. My hand contains; Gazelle the King of Mythical Beasts, Kaiser Seahorse, Celtic Guardian, Magician's Valkria, Brain Control, and Michizure. "I set one card face-down and then summon Kaiser Seahorse in attack mode, that ends my turn." I say.

"I summon Giant Red Seasnake in attack mode. Then I activate Cold wave to prevent any Spell or Trap cards from being activated until my next turn. Red Seasnake, destroy her Kaiser Seahorse!"

Now I have 3700 Life Points. Ice then forms around my ankles, "What the-?"

"I forgot to mention. When one of us loses Life Points our bodies will become engulfed in ice. And when you lose, the ice will cover you completely."

I draw Crush Card Virus, "I set another card and set a monster."

"I'll have my Seasnake destroy your monster, and then set one card."

It was Celtic Guardian. I can activate spells and traps now too. I draw Dark Magician Girl, "First, I set one monster. Now I play Brain Control. I can now take control of your Seasnake and then have it attack you directly!"

Crump is down to 2000 Life Points. The ice forms halfway up Crump's feathery body, "Ha! I bet it's pretty cold over there." I say.

"No actually. Since I'm a penguin, I'm immune to the cold brought by the ice. Unfortunately, you have to still endure it. Now, Giant Red Seasnake, attack her set monster."

"Sure this destroys my Gazelle, but now I activate Michizure! When one of my monsters goes to the Grave, this card allows me to send one of your monsters there as well. So I choose your Seasnake."

I draw Queen's Knight, "I summon Magician's Valkria in attack mode! Your move."

"I play Flying Penguin in attack mode. Then I equip it with Penguin Sword, this raises its attack to 2200. Now attack her Magician!"

My Life Points drop to 3100. The ice goes to my knees now. My body starts shaking due to the cold. I draw Luster Dragon. I decide to set Queen's Knight and end my turn. Crump's Flying Penguin easily destroys it though.

I draw Kuriboh. Dang, this won't help. I decide just to set it. Flying Penguin destroys it. I don't know if I should put Divine Queen on the field though, Crump may have something that could destroy it easily. I draw Summoned Skull, "I set a monster and end my turn." I say.

"I'll have my Flying Penguin attack you again!"

I draw Dark Magician. I can't summon anything, and I don't have any spell or traps to save my Life Points. "I have to end my turn."

"Flying Penguin, attack her directly!"

I have 900 Life Points left. The ice reaches to the bottom of my neck. Thank goodness, that my arms are still free. "Looks like I have good numbers today. I'd say I have a 97% chance of winning this duel." Crump says.

"W-we'll s-see about that." I say as my teeth chatter.

I draw Heavy Storm. This could help me win! But the only monster I'll be able to summon is my Deck Master. Then again, he only has one face-down card. "I p-play Heavy S-storm to destroy every spell a-and trap on the f-field. Then I summon my D-deck Master; Divine Q-Queen to the field and have her attack your F-Flying P-Penguin!" I say.

Crump has 1750 Life Points left. "This doesn't concern me. I summon Penguin Torpedo in attack mode! This monster can attack you directly, so I think I'll have it do that."

I'm left with a mere 150 Life Points. The ice goes up to about my nose now. This isn't good. "And my Penguin's ability lets it get destroyed at the end of my turn, but no matter. You've already gone bankrupt!"

This will probably be my last turn. I better draw something good. I draw Pot of Greed, I decide to use it and draw 2 Meteor's of Destruction. Yes! I use both of them which brings Crump to zero Life Points. "No! How can this be! My numbers ensured my victory!" He yells.

Crump then disappears into thin air and then ice around me disappears. I fall onto my knees and try to gain back my warmth. But during that process, I think I passed out.

"Ari? Ari? Wake up."

A open my eyes to see Yami sitting there next to me, "Yami?" I say.

He kisses me then pulls me in for a hug, "I almost thought you lost that duel. Are you alright?" he says holding me closer.

"Y-yeah, just cold that's all. I'm glad you're here."

"I'm just glad I found you. Have you seen the others?"

"No. I was looking for you guys when I ran into Crump. But they have to be around here somewhere."

I shiver slightly. He looks at me again, "Are you sure you're alright?"

"I'm fine. Don't worry about me; we should just worry about the others."

He takes off his jacket and puts it on my shoulders, "Here."

"You sure? Won't you get cold?"

"Nah, I'll be fine. We better start searching for everyone else."

He helps me to my feet. I lean over to him and kiss him. The warmth from the kiss enters my body and I start feeling better almost immediately. I separate from him and gaze into his violet eyes, "Thank you." I whisper.

**Hopefully that was an improved scene from the past Yami/Ari scenes in this season. I was also thinking of moving the rating up to 'T', but I'm not sure. I was originally going to have Sabrina face Lector, but my bro said the Lector/Kaiba duel was too important apparently. And if there was one meme to describe this fanfic it would say this; "Demote all the characters!", since I do that a lot for Sabrina's sake. And I think the title could have made a 'Frozen' reference.**


	20. Order in the Court

~Sabrina~

Yugi and I are currently walking around the arctic area. I'm not that cold anymore due to Ari's kissing scene with Yami. I've tried giving Yugi his jacket back, but he insists that I hold on to it until we get to a warmer part of the Virtual World. We haven't seen the others, nor have found a way to reach them. "Where do you think they could be?" Yugi asks.

"If I knew, they'd be walking with us." I say.

"Yeah, but I-err- just keep your eyes open."

We walk a bit farther until I see something in the distance, "What do you suppose that is?"

Yugi squints, "Is-is that Tea?"

"I think it is."

Yugi smiles widely, "Tea! Hey Tea!" he yells as we run toward her.

"Huh? Oh hey guys!" she says.

"Hi Tea. Are you alright?" Yugi asks.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Have you guys run into the Big Five yet?"

"Yes. Yugi faced Gansly earlier, then found me after I defeated Crump." I say.

"Oh, okay. Have you seen the others?"

"No," Yugi says, "I'm worried. They could be in the middle of one of the Big Five's traps."

Tea shivers and then wraps her arms around herself. "Here Tea." I say tossing her Yugi's jacket, that I was stuck holding onto.

"Isn't this Yugi's?"

"He won't let me give it back yet."

"Oh, well, thanks!"

The three of us head out in a search for the others. The glaciers around us are starting to get thicker, making it colder. I'm not sure if we're ever going to escape this area. The glaciers form a canyon around us now, and usually that means a dead end up there. "Should we turn around?" Tea asks.

"We could always try and climb upward." Yugi suggests.

"Do you know how hard it will be to climb up an ice wall?" I say.

"Oh, right."

"Wait guys!" Tea says, "Is that a door?" she says pointing ahead.

Yugi and I look ahead to see a well-made wooden door up against one of the walls around us. "Should we open it?" Yugi asks.

"Why not? Let's go!" I say.

The three of us rush up to the door and burst it open. Inside is a courtroom. "Joey? Is that you?" Yugi says.

"Aw hey guys! I'm about to bring da whooping on Johnson here!" he says.

"Order in the court!" a look up to see the Judge Man up by the witness stand. Another member of the Big Five. "Settle down. This trial will proceed. Now sit down while this commences." He says.

Tea, Yugi, and I sit down on one of the benches and watch the duel from there. Joey's Deck Master is Flame Swordsman. Its Joey's turn, so he summons Panther Warrior in attack mode, then sets one card. Johnson activates Leading Question to give his monster enough attack points to destroy Panther Warrior, but Joey activates Skull Dice and rolls a one.

Joey's Life Points drop to 1100 and Johnson gains Life Points to his Sinister Justice card, bringing him to 1800. Joey draws, "I summon Swordsman of Landstar in attack mode! Then I'll use the Graceful Dice card. And I get... what!? A one! Fine I place two cards face-down and end my turn."

"I'll use my Deck Master's special ability. Now I pay 1000 Life Points to destroy your Swordsman and bring you to 600 Life Points. Then I activate Pot of Greed and-"

"Well I activate Gamble! This card allows me to flip a coin and if I call it right, I can draw five new cards. And I pick heads." Come on Joey! He flips the coin then grabs it, "It's… tails!?Aw man!" Joey whines. "I play Scapegoat! Try to get past these guys Johnson!"

"In due time Joseph. I activate Reinforcement of the Army to add a warrior-type monster to my hand. Then I activate Polymerization to fuse these monsters to summon Dragoness the Wicked Knight! So I use both my monsters on the field to eliminate two of your Scapegoats."

Joey's turn is skipped due to the Gamble card he played. "I use both my monsters to destroy your last two Scapegoats." Johnson says.

"No! My monsters!" Joey says.

"Yugi, is it just me, or do you think that Johnson might be rigging this duel?" I ask him.

"It could be. But what can we do? If we don't act fast, Joey could lose this duel!" he says.

A white beam of light emerges from the ceiling. What now? Noah appears on the ground. What's he doing here? "Time out! Stop the duel!" he says.

"Noah, please sir, I'm only a few minutes away from taking his body!" Johnson says.

"You don't deserve that prize Johnson. Not after what you just pulled."

"So he was cheating!" Joey says.

Noah turns his attention toward us, "Sadly, yes. He's using my virtual technology to rig your dice rolls."

"But Noah! I can't live in this prison anymore!"

"Silence! I brought you five here under the condition that you help me defeat Seto Kaiba and his friends. And with you cheating, I can't prove that I'm more deserving than him! I've lived under Seto's shadow for too long and I should be the president of Kaiba Corp! Now Johnson, I think it's time to say goodbye."

"Hey Noah." Joey says.

"What?"

"I'm willing to continue this duel if Johnson is willing to stop cheating. And if he wins, then you still have the chance to prove yourself. But if I win, then I can prove that Joey Wheeler doesn't sit around and let frauds run free!"

"Very well, but I hope you realized what you just got yourself into. All of the original stakes still stand. Good luck." Noah disappears and lets the duel continue now.

Joey draws, "I activate Pot of Greed! Now I move Flame Swordsman to the field and equip him with Burning Soul Sword to raise his attack power."

"But Burning Soul Sword requires a sacrifice to be played, and you don't have any other monsters."

"I'm not done. I activate the Arduous Decision magic card! With this card I can draw two cards, then you're able to pick one of them while their face-down and if it's a monster I can summon it to the field, but if it's a spell or trap both cards go to the Grave. Okay, so pick one." Joey holds out both cards so Johnson can't see what they are.

"Um… I choose your left hand."

"You sure? This could be the end for you."

"Uh- I change my mind! I pick your right hand."

"Why thank you. You chose my Goblin Attack Force. Now I can summon it to the field and then sacrifice it to use my Burning Soul Sword! Now Flame Swordsman, attack his monster and wipe out his Life Points!"

"This isn't possible! I never lose in the courtroom!" Johnson disappears moments later.

Yes! Joey wins! "Aw yeah! Whose da man!" Joey says.

"Great job Joey!" Yugi says.

"By the way, where are the others?" Joey asks.

"They might be stuck dueling the rest of the Big Five. Like they said, all of us have to duel." I say.

"Wait, all of us!? Oh no Serenity! She's never dueled before; she barely knows how to play! We've got to find them!"

**Hooray another cliffhanger. I think I'm about a quarter of the way through the Virtual World arc, so yay!**


	21. Tech Trouble

~Sabrina~

We were able to get out of the courtroom by going through the door we came in, but the scenery changed into a cave. We've been wandering around it for a while now. Joey is starting to calm down about Serenity, but he's still quite jittery.

"Okay, so three of them are out. That leaves two more of the Big Five." Tea says.

"And we still need to find Duke, Tristan, Serenity, Kaiba, and Mokuba." I say.

"Yeah, and what are the odds that they picked Serenity as a target?"

Joey cringes, "Don't you understand that she doesn't even know how to play the game!? They're going to go after her because it's easy prey!" he yells.

"Okay Joey, calm down. Getting angry isn't going to find Serenity any quicker." Yugi says.

"But we can't just wander dis place forever!"

"Joey, we know that. But if Serenity was dueling, she has to be strong. And if she saw you acting this way, it might cause her to weaken. So try and stay calm for her sake."

He sighs, "I guess you're right. Thanks Sabrina."

I nod. We start walking once more. So far, this tunnel doesn't seem like it even has an exit. It just keeps going straight with no signs of it stopping. "How far do you think this goes?" I ask.

"Well it has to have an exit somewhere." Yugi says.

So, we keep moving. Still no exit. "Guys can we take a break for a second?" Tea asks.

"Sure. I think we've walked almost a mile down this tunnel." Yugi says.

"At least, that's what it feels like." I say.

The cave is pretty silent, other than the noise we're making. A loud shriek echoes across the cave. We almost have to cover our ears because of it. It dies down after a second, "What was that?" I ask.

"That was Serenity! I'm sure of it!" Joey says.

He now starts running, leaving us to run to catch up with him. We keep running, but don't find an exit. Her scream echoes the walls again. What happened to her? Did she lose a duel? I hope she didn't. We keep running aimlessly, hoping to find a way to reach her. "Does Joey even know where he's going at this point?" Tea asks.

"He probably doesn't have a better idea than the rest of us do." I say.

"Hey guys, look! There's the exit!" Joey says.

Up ahead is the cave mouth with light coming from the other side. We run through it to find a room that looks similar to Noah's fortress. Below us is a duel going on with a giant robot, Duke, and Serenity. Yes, we found them! "Serenity! Up here!" Joey calls.

"Joey, it's you!" she says.

"Sorry to interrupt this 'touching' reunion, but I have a duel to win." The robot says. Obviously one of the Big Five.

"And what makes you so special?" Joey says.

"I am Nezbitt. I was head of technology back at Kaiba Corp."

That explains the giant robot. I look around for a moment, "Hey wasn't Tristan with you guys?" I ask.

"Well… yeah." Duke says, "But… he lost."

What? H-he lost? "He tried to protect me. It's all my fault." Serenity says as she wipes away a tear.

"Don't worry Serenity. We're all here for you now, so don't give up!" Joey encourages.

"Okay."

Serenity draws and looks over her cards, "I'll sacrifice my Lady Panther to summon Marie the Fallen One. Okay… then I discard this to activate the special ability of my Deck Master. Goddess with the Third Eye, fuse together Marie the Fallen One with Forgiving Maiden to summon St. Joan!" she says.

"Nice try, but your monster is too weak to stand up to my Deck Master." Nezbitt says.

"But my Command Angel gives St. Joan extra attack points, using her special ability."

It's still too weak though. I scan over the field and notice that a card that Tristan must've played previously is still on the field. "Hey Yugi, can they still activate that card?" I ask.

"I think they can." He says. Yugi turns his attention over to Duke and Serenity, "Hey guys! Tristan's card is still on the field! You might be able to use that!"

"Oh yeah." Duke says, "I can use my Strike Ninja's special ability to discard two cards from my hand, so I'm able to activate Tristan's face-down card."

I hope that card will help them. The card is flipped face-up and is revealed to be Rare Metal Soul. That's perfect! That card will be able to raise St. Joan's attack power by 1000, matching it with Perfect Machine King.

"Go St. Joan! Attack his Perfect Machine King!" Serenity commands.

Both monsters are destroyed, but since Perfect Machine King was the Deck Master, Nezbitt automatically loses. "Way to go sis!" Joey says.

"Fools! Tristan is still gone, and I will claim his body and escape this world!" Nezbitt says.

"No, he can't do that! He lost the duel!" I say.

Nezbitt disappears a moment later. Joey, Tea, Yugi, and I head down to where Duke and Serenity are. "Are you guys alright?" Joey asks.

"We're fine. I wish we could say the same for Tristan though." Duke says.

"Joey, it was all my fault!" Serenity sobs.

"It's gonna be alright Serenity, we'll find him." Joey says.

"His body may be gone, but doesn't that mean his mind is still here?" I ask.

"Yeah. We've got to find him!" Yugi says.

**Gosh, I really have to stop doing cliffhangers, don't I? Sorry if this chapter was a bit short, btw. And also sorry if the title sounds like crap.**


	22. Finding Friends

~Sabrina~

The area we're in now reminds me of Domino Pier. Except there's no water nearby; just warehouses. "Poor Tristan…" Serenity says.

"Don't worry; didn't they say he was in some kind of holding area?" Yugi says.

"But, what if they reached him before we do?" I ask.

"We'll make sure dat doesn't happen!" Joey says.

We wander around near the warehouses more, but still don't find a place where Tristan could be. I then hear clanging and a yell not too far away, "Do you guys hear that?" I ask.

"Yeah, I think it's coming from over there." Yugi says pointing.

We run past another warehouse, then go around another one and see Kaiba, Mokuba, and Tristan standing there. "Hey Tristan! I knew we'd track you down pal!" Joey says.

I don't know, something about Tristan seems off. "Run along, kids." He says.

"Wait a second. You're Nezbitt, aren't you!" I say.

"Yes. I've taken over your friend's body! And now that that's done, it's time to do something I should have done ages ago!" Nezbitt lunges toward Kaiba with a stick in his hands.

Kaiba dodges and grabs a pole lying on the ground. Nezbitt knocks it out of his hands and sends the pole to the ground again. "Why are you doing this!" Kaiba practically shouts.

"To get revenge on what you did to me! Now say goodby-" Nezbitt is cut off when a robot monkey jumps onto his head, but is easily thrown off. Joey then takes the chance to kick Nezbitt into a warehouse.

"Joey, what did you do that for!? It's still Tristan's body!" Tea yells.

"Well someone had to shut that guy up!" Joey says.

Tea and Serenity rush over to see if Tristan's body is okay. A light then comes from the inside and Nezbitt bursts out of there on a motorcycle. The motorcycle just barely misses Kaiba and starts heading toward Mokuba. Nezbitt grabs Mokuba and hits him on the head, causing him to fall unconscious. "Now I've taken something from you Kaiba!" he shouts.

"Come back you snake!" Kaiba yells.

We go to run after Nezbitt, but he escapes down a tunnel. I hear a noise behind us and then see Kaiba getting onto another motorcycle, "Guys, get out of the way!" I say.

Kaiba rushes past us and seems like he wouldn't care if one of us was run over. "Okay, what now? Should we go after them?" I ask.

"Well if Nezbitt has Tristan's body, then maybe we should try and look for the real one first." Yugi says.

We turn around to keep looking and see that same robot monkey sitting there, "Hey, what's he doing here?" Joey asks.

The monkey starts jumping up and down at seeing us, "What should we do about him?" Joey asks.

"Let's unbolt him and tear him apart." Duke says, "I don't think he can be trusted."

"No way! This guy risked his life to save Kaiba!" Serenity says.

"That's true, but he's still not worth trusting," I say, "For all we know he could have done that to get on our side, and then turn on us. He could've been created by Noah."

"I agree with Sabrina on this one. All in favor of scraping him?" Duke says.

"No! Stop it guys! Let's take him with us. Come here little guy." Serenity says. The monkey jumps up into Serenity's arms.

"Serenity, if we're going to take him with us, then you better keep an eye of him." I say.

"I will!"

"Alright, let's go find Tristan!" Yugi says.

The robot monkey starts thrashing his arms around and making noises, "Shut up!" Joey says, "You should just be grateful we're even taking you wit us!"

"Yeah, so, anyway. What are we going to do about our current situation?" I say.

Everyone stops and thinks for a moment. "Um… do you think there's a vehicle around here that we can use?" Duke says.

"Maybe, but we'll have to check most of the warehouses." Yugi says.

We decide to split up then. Yugi goes with Duke, Joey with Serenity, and Tea with me. Tea and I start looking in the warehouses nearby, while the others search more far away. We search for about fifteen minutes, but no one finds anything.

"Sabrina, help me unlock this door." Tea says.

I walk over to Tea and help her break the lock. Luckily it was easy because the lock was rusted. We open the door and walk inside. Its cloudy outside, so not much light enters the room. There looks like there's a car in the very back, but it's difficult to see. The two of us head back there and see if there's a light switch nearby or at least the main door for the warehouse.

"See anything?" I say as I run my hands along the walls.

"No, wait, I feel something. Ouch!" she says.

"What happened?"

"I tripped over something. I found the main door; see if you can open it from the outside."

"Okay."

I head out the side door and walk to the other side of the warehouse to see the main door. I can see Yugi and Duke searching another warehouse nearby, "Hey guys!" I yell.

They look over and then head toward me, "Did you and Tea find anything yet?" Duke asks.

"I think there's a car in here. Help me lift this door up." I say.

The three of us eventually lift up the door, which brings light into the warehouse. In the back is a green pick-up truck that can fit two people in the front and the rest of us in the back. "That will work." Yugi says.

"Yeah, I'll go get Joey and Serenity." Duke says.

He soon returns with both of them and the robot monkey. "Aw yeah, that's much better than walkin!" Joey says. "I call dibs on driving!"

"Who says you get to drive?" Tea says.

"Because I'd probably do better than you guys. And besides, do you see anyone else volunteering for the job?"

Tea sighs, "Fine, you can drive."

"And Joey, when you end up crashing, we'll be the judge of your 'skills'." I say. We all laugh, but Joey just pouts.

"Okay, okay, just get in the back already."

Joey hops in the driver seat, while the rest of us sit in the back. Joey drives out of the warehouse and through the same tunnel Kaiba and Nezbitt went into. When we exit the tunnel, we're on an abandoned highway that runs over a large ocean.

"Man, it's a good thing we found this." Duke says.

"Yeah, it certainly beats walki-" Yugi gets cut off when Joey slams on the breaks. My head ends up hitting the window right next to me. Ouch! "Why did you stop Joey?" Yugi asks.

"Look up there. It looks like some kind of rocket." He says.

We all look up to see a rocket heading up toward space, or virtual space I should say. "Who do you think launched it?" Tea asks.

"Maybe the Big Five. Who else could it be?" I say.

Everyone shrugs. I notice that the robot monkey is scratching his head. He looks _way _too comfortable in Serenity's arms. "-Let's face it, I'm way cooler than that weirdo Duke Devlin." I hear Tristan's voice say.

"Did the monkey just say that?" Duke says.

The monkey continues to scratch his head, "-if I stay in this monkey too long, I may start even acting like one." It says again.

"Um… Tristan? Is that you in there?" Yugi asks.

"Did I just say that out loud?"

Joey gets up of the driver's seat and jumps up into the back and then grabs the robot monkey, "Shut up, you piece of scrap metal! Tell us where Tristan is!" he yells strangling it.

"Hey Joey, it's me Tristan!"

"Yeah right!"

"Maybe we should just throw him in the ocean. He's probably not trustworthy." I say.

"Hey now, d-don't do that!" the monkey says.

"Yeah, good idea Sabrina. How many points do I get if it shorts out?" Joey says getting into a pitching position with the monkey in his hand.

"No guys! What if it is Tristan? We have to keep him with us!" Serenity says.

Joey sighs, "Fine."

We find a rope near the front seat and tie the monkey to the back and make sure we all keep our distance. Joey gets back in the driver's seat and starts driving again. "Come on, it's me, Tristan, I swear!" the monkey yells.

"We're not going to take any chances." Duke says.

So we keep driving with the monkey ranting on and on about how he's Tristan. I almost want to believe him, but we can't take any chances here. So most of the time, Joey and Duke keep yelling at him to shut up, but it's not working. I really wish we left that monkey behind; this is starting to get annoying.

After a while, we still don't see anything useful, but Joey starts to slow down a second later, "Is that Kaiba dueling over there?" he asks.

We look up to see Kaiba dueling one of the Big Five in the form of Jinzo. The highway is broken between us, so we can't get to Kaiba. "Hey Kaiba!" Yugi shouts.

Kaiba turns around, "Yugi?" he says.

"Who are you dueling?"

"His name is Leichter. Now shut up, I have a duel to win."

Kaiba's Deck Master is Lord of D. The duel continues as Kaiba draws, "I activate Heavy Storm!"

"Well I activate Imperial Order to negate the effect of every magic card you play. And I only have to pay 700 Life Points per turn to keep it active." The Big Five member says, "And since I've drawn, I get 500 more Life Points due to Solemn Wishes. Then I use my Satellite Cannon to destroy your face-down monster!" Leichter says.

Kaiba draws, "I summon Spirit Ryu in attack mode. Spirit Ryu, attack his Injection Fairy Lily!"

"Have you forgotten her effect? By reducing my Life Points to 1400, I can give my Fairy Lily 3400 attack points. So say farewell Mr. Kaiba!"

"Not so fast, I activate Spirit Ryu's ability. He gains 1000 attack points for each dragon-type I discard from my hand and I have two. Now I only lose 400 Life Points. And now that your Life Points are low, I use my Twin-Headed Behemoth to destroy your Fairy Lily!"

Leichter is down to 800. "Now I gain Life Points due to Solemn Wishes and Life-Absorbing Machine. But I can't afford to lose 700 Life Points, so I'll destroy Imperial Order. Then I'll summon a monster in defense mode and then have my Satellite Cannon destroy your Twin-Headed Behemoth!"

Kaiba draws, "First I activate Pot of Greed, and then I summon Possessed Dark Soul in attack mode! Now I'll use him to attack your face-down monster!"

"Reveal Dreamsprite! It's effect allows me to redirect the attack at my Satellite Cannon, but your monster is too weak to even touch it. Then I take the Life Point boost from Solemn Wishes and end my turn."

Kaiba draws and then smirks, "First, I play a monster in defense mode. Now I'll use my Deck Master's special ability; with this I can pay 500 Life Points to conduct another normal summon this turn, so I sacrifice both of my monsters in order to call forth the Blue-Eyes White Dragon! Now my Blue-Eyes, destroy his Satellite Cannon and end this!"

Blue-Eyes flies above the clouds and goes to destroy the Cannon. The next thing we see is an explosion then sparks raining down near the dueling field. Kaiba wins! He then rushes up to Leichter, "Where's Mokuba!?" he demands.

"You'll never see your brother again! And the Big Five will come back for you, all of you, and we'll be stronger than ever!" Leichter says as he disappears.

**Foreshadowing, it happens! Sabrina probably had some devious ideas in this chapter, but hey, it adds excitement or whatever. And yes, that is how Leichter is spelled in the anime.**


	23. Noah's Family Secret

~Sabrina~

"Now that all of the Big Five are gone, should we go after Noah?" Yugi asks.

"Well done Seto." Noah's voice echoes all around us. Speak of the devil. "You may have won that duel, but you've lost something far more important; your brother."

"Where is he?!" Kaiba shouts.

A tunnel appears in front of Kaiba and the broken part of the highway is repaired, "Proceed ahead and you may find him."

Without hesitation, Kaiba runs toward the tunnel. "Kaiba, wait! It could be trap!" Yugi yells.

Kaiba ignores him and goes inside the tunnel. Yugi sighs, "What now?" he asks.

"We should follow him. That tunnel may be our only way to find Noah and our way out of here." I say.

"And we can't let Kaiba go alone. He needs our help. So, I'm going."

"I will too."

Yugi and I run into the tunnel with the others still debating weather or not to go with us. We keep running until we reach a fork in the road. "Okay, which way do you want to go?" I ask.

"I don't know. Want to flip a coin?" Yugi says.

"Nah, I say left."

"How do you know?"

"Just a strong hunch. Come on, let's go." I say running down the left pathway with Yugi behind me.

There's a light at the end that we run through. We then find ourselves in front of an abandoned mansion that has vines growing over the walls. Yugi walks up to the gate, which is locked tightly, "I wonder what's inside." He mutters.

"Whatever it is, Noah doesn't want us to go in there." I say.

"Maybe we should turn back."

"No, I'm going inside."

"What, why?"

"What if this is where the exit is? I'm willing to go inside and see for myself."

"Alright, and I guess I have no choice but to go with you."

Yugi and I start climbing the gate and soon reach the top of it and then jump down to the other side. We start walking toward the front door when I then hear crying off in the distance, "Is that a baby that's crying?" Yugi asks.

"I think so. But wait what if that's a virtual recording?"

"Maybe, but let's check it out just to be sure."

We enter the mansion to still find no one's here. The crying gets louder the more we search the place. Yugi and I check every room that we can, but we still don't find anything. I open another door to find another unpopulated room. This time, it's the dining room. "Hey Sabrina, I found something!" Yugi calls from the room across from me.

I walk into the room and the crying immediately stops. In here is probably what Noah doesn't want us to find. "What is it?" I ask.

"I found a picture frame over here. But it's completely covered in dust." He says.

"Well what are you waiting for? Clean it off."

Yugi rubs the heavy coat of dust off with his sleeve and then gasps. "What? Who's in the picture?" I ask.

"It's Noah. And someone else."

I lean over Yugi and look at the picture. "Isn't that Kaiba's stepfather?"

"I think it is. Let's take this with us just in case."

A loud bang is heard from another room by us and then yelling. Yugi and I go over to that room and open the door to find Noah, Mokuba, and Kaiba there. Yugi walks up to Kaiba, "You might want to take a look at this." He says handing Kaiba the photo.

"This is a cheap trick. It's a picture of my stepfather." He says.

"But why is he with Noah?"

"Pay attention Seto," Noah says, "I think this session will help you."

A virtual simulation of Gozaburo Kaiba and Noah appears next to us. Gozaburo sits at his desk and reaches into one of the drawers and pulls out a photo and slides it over to Noah, "Who's this kid?" he asks.

"He's my latest experiment. His name is Seto. He and his brother will come to live with us. He's extremely intelligent; you might learn something from him. The purpose of him coming here is to give you some competition so you might improve your studies." Gozaburo says. "And besides if I'm going to give the company to you one day Noah, then I want you to have to skills to run one."

"Okay, you won't be disappointed, father."

What did he just say? Did he say Gozaburo is his father?! "Not quite what you were expecting right Seto? But we are stepbrothers after all." Noah says. "And it's all true. I was Gozaburo's one true son; I was supposed to inherit the company! You were just a servant, brought here to motivate me. And the time has finally come for a true Kaiba to run my father's empire."

"Your story makes no sense! If you're really his son, then why have I never met you before!?" Kaiba shouts, "Answer that you little brat!"

"That's part two of this story."

"Alert! Alert!" The screen behind Noah lights up to show Joey, Serenity, Tea, and Duke driving the pick-up truck away from four of the Big Five, who are attacking them.

"Well, it looks like I have other matters to deal with. Stay here, I'll be back." Noah says.

"You're not going anywhere! Come back here!" Kaiba shouts. Noah and Mokuba disappear.

"We've got to save the others! But we're too far away from them; we don't even know where they could be!" Yugi says.

Conveniently, a door appears in front of us. "Should we-?" Yugi asks.

"I guess so. Why not?" I say.

I open the door and walk through it with Yugi and Kaiba behind me. It leads us to a wasteland area where I can see the truck flipped over not too far away, "Hey guys! Are you alright?" I yell as the three of us approach them.

"Yeah, we're all fine. It's good to see you guys again." Tea says.

Our attention moves over to Kaiba, who is staring blankly at the photo of Noah and his father. "Hey Kaiba," Yugi says, "could Noah's story really be true? Are you two really long-lost stepbrothers?"

"It's obviously a scam. That conversation between them must've happened over six years ago, which is around when this picture was taken. But look closely." Kaiba says handing over the photo.

"Huh? Noah looks exactly the same as now."

"But how could he not age at all in six years?" I ask.

**More cliffhangers, 'yay'. I imagine everyone is probably tired of all the cliffhangers, but that's usually how all the Yugioh episodes end.**


	24. Return of the Five

~Sabrina~

"Well the idea of Kaiba and Noah being stepbrothers explains why Noah trapped us here." Yugi says.

"Yeah, and Noah probably teamed up with the Big Five to show his power." Joey says.

"Why does this even concern you geeks?" Kaiba asks, "This is family business, so stay out of it!"

He starts to walk away, but Tea runs in front of him, "Where are you going? We're all in the Virtual World, so whatever 'business' you have is our problem too!" she says.

"Just get out of my way."

"No! We're in this together, so we'll stay together! Mokuba is our friend too and we want to help him. So why won't you let us?"

"How many times do I have to tell you to stay out of this!? Now stand aside."

Kaiba shoves her to the side and starts walking again. Tea looks like she might run after him again though. I put a hand on her shoulder, "Tea, he's not worth it. Let him set out on his own." I say.

She sighs, "Fine."

"Uh, guys, what's he doing up there?" Joey says. He points up to a cliff, where Tristan is standing. Or Nezbitt I should say.

Tristan laughs, but is using Gansly's voice, "I'm afraid Nezbitt isn't the only one in here." He says.

"With all five of us combined, our win is 100%." Crump says.

"And our strength will destroy all of you." Leichter says.

Next to him appears Robotic Knight, Nightmare Penguin, Judge Man, Jinzo, and Deep Sea Warrior. "Give Tristan back!" Yugi yells.

"On one condition Yugi. You have to duel us, and if you win then Tristan's body will be returned. But if you lose, then all of your bodies will be ours!" he says in Gansly's voice.

He jumps down from the cliff and stands directly across from us. "You're on!" Yugi says.

_"I'm taking over Sabrina." Ari says._

_"Okay."_

~Ari~

"Okay, you guys are on!" Yami says.

"Hold up," I say, "how is five versus one fair? I'm going to duel alongside Yami."

"You sure about that?" Yami asks.

"Absolutely. I'm ready to get rid of these guys."

"Alright then."

"Just to make this more fair, how about each of you start with 4000 Life Points each while we only get 8000?" Johnson says.

Yami and I nod. At least they don't have 4000 Life Points for each of the five of them. The grid of cards appears in front of us and we begin to pick our decks. "Now pick a Deck Master." Gansly says.

"I pick my Dark Magician!" Yami says.

"And I'll choose Divine Queen!"

"Since there are five of us in here, we'll rotate Deck Master's. So for now I choose my Deep Sea Warrior!" Gansly says, "I'll start off this duel. First I play this, Legendary Ocean! Then I play the Legendary Fisherman, and using my ocean, I don't have to sacrifice anything. My turn ends."

I go next. My hand contains; Mirror Force, Magic Cylinder, Dark Magician Girl, Kaiser Sea Horse, Feral Imp, and Dark Elf. "First I set two cards face-down, and then I summon Kaiser Sea Horse in defense mode! I end my turn." I say.

Yami draws, "Alright, I summon Gazelle the King of Mythical Beasts in defense mode! I end." He says.

"Okay, ready for this?" Crump's voice comes forward. His Deck Master changes to Nightmare Penguin, "Now Legendary Fisherman, destroy Gazelle!"

"Well I activate Magic Cylinder to redirect the attack back at you!" I say.

The Big Five are down to 5950 Life Points. Crump summons Catapult Turtle in defense mode and ends his turn. I draw Pot of Greed and then activate it. I draw Summoned Skull and Dust Tornado. "First, I'll set a card, and then I sacrifice Kaiser Sea Horse in order to summon Summoned Skull in attack mode! Summoned Skull, destroy their Catapult Turtle!" I say.

Yami draws, "I summon the Mystical Elf in defense mode! That will end my turn."

"Time to say goodbye to Mystical Elf! Legendary Fisherman, attack!"

"Not so fast! I activate Mirror Force to destroy all of your monsters!" I say.

Crump sets a monster and ends his turn. I draw De-Fusion. "I activate Dust Tornado to destroy your Legendary Ocean! Then I have Summoned Skull attack your set monster!"

His monster was Magician of Faith, which allows him to add one magic card from his Graveyard to his hand, and I think I know which one he chose. Its Yami's turn, "I sacrifice Gazelle in order to summon the Dark Magician Girl! Then I activate Card Destruction allowing us to discard our hands and draw the same number of cards!" I draw Fairy Witch, Kuriboh, Celtic Guardian, and Soul Exchange. "Now Dark Magician Girl, attack them directly!"

Now the Big Five are down to 3950. Johnson now takes over. His Deck Master changes to Judge Man. "I activate my Deck Master's special ability; this allows me to give up 1000 Life Points to destroy every monster you two control and inflict 500 damage for each of them!" Yami is down to 3000, while I'm at 3500. "Then I summon Hysteric Angel in attack mode and I think I'll have it attack Sabrina's Life Points!"

Now I'm down to 1700. "Are you alright?" Yami asks me.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I say.

Johnson continues his turn, "I set one card face-down, and then I play Altar of Mist! This card allows me to add a ritual card to my hand. I rest my case."

I draw Luster Dragon. "I play Luster Dragon in attack mode! Luster Dragon, destroy their Hysteric Angel!"

"I counter with Revenge Sacrifice! Even though my Angel is gone, I can still destroy your monster in order to summon this; Machine King!"

Yami draws, "First I remove the Buster Blader I discarded earlier from play, so I can summon The Rock Spirit! And then I sacrifice him in order to summon Des Volstgalph! And set one card face-down, then end my turn." He says.

That face-down is obviously a trap. It's surprisingly predictable. "Now it's time for me to step in." Nezbitt says. The Deck Master is changed to Robotic Knight. "And sorry Yugi, but I'm not going to take the bait, so I activate Heavy Storm! There, looks like your trap was Mirror Force. Now Machine King, destroy his Des Volstgalph!"

"I'm afraid that won't work Nezbitt, you left out one key factor to your attack. You see, when a magic card is played, it increases Des Volstgalph's attack by 200, making him stronger than your Machine King! And when it gets destroyed, you also lose an additional 500 Life Points."

Machine King is destroyed, and the Big Five are down to 3350 Life Points. I draw Jack's Knight. "I play Celtic Guardian in defense mode and end my turn." I say. I would have summoned it in attack mode, but I'm afraid that it might get easily destroyed later and I don't think I can afford to lose any more Life Points.

"Des Volstgalph, attack them directly! Then I summon Big Shield Gardna in defense mode! Your move." Yami says.

The Big Five only have 950 Life Points left. Leichter takes over, making Jinzo the Deck Master. Leichter laughs, "You couldn't begin to imagine the monster that lurks in my deck!" he says.

"Tell me!" Yami says.

"Oh you'll find out, I'm about to summon it! That ritual card I drew earlier was Dragon Revival Ritual, which allows me to summon our all-powerful being; the Five-Headed Dragon! I'll also set one card face-down."

"Yeah, well, last time I checked, you don't even have one monster on the field." I say.

"Yes, but you forgot about our Deck Master's! By using all five of them, we can bring forth the Five-Headed Dragon!"

It appears onto the field and has 5000 attack points. How are we going to defeat it this time? "Even though my dragon can't attack this turn, it still destroys every magic, monster, and trap card you control on the field!"

I draw Nutrient Z, "I set one card face-down and then call Divine Queen to the field! That's all." I say. Divine Queen is a light monster, but she's not strong enough to destroy Five-Headed Dragon. Hopefully Yami has a plan to defeat these guys.

Yami draws, "Alright, I move Dark Magician to the field and then I'll tribute him to summon Dark Flare Knight! This monster will act as my new Deck Master. Now, attack!"

Hopefully he knows what he's doing. Yami didn't lose any Life Points though, nor was Dark Flare Knight destroyed, "Dark Flare Knight's ability allows me to take no damage, and its second effect allows me to replace it with Mirage Knight!"

"But how can a pitiful monster like that defeat our dragon? You must have given up already!"

"Not quite. Mirage Knight, attack their dragon! And it has a special ability; Mirage Knight gets the original attack points of its target along with its own, making him stronger than your dragon! And he's also a light monster, so there's no way for you to escape this attack!"

"Looks like your wrong. Using my Deal with Dark Ruler card I played earlier, I can give up half my Life Points in order to negate any damage I would have taken. That leaves me with 475, not the number I wanted, but I'm still in the game!"

"But you still have no Deck Master." I say.

"Not unless you look at the fine print of my trap. It summons Berserk Dragon as my Deck Master!"

Crap. Mirage Knight disappears, leaving Dark Magician on the field, due to its ability of only staying on the field for one attack. Yami's turn still isn't over yet though, "I play Magical Hats to hide my Dark Magician and then use its ability to pay 1000 Life Points to duplicate the effect onto Ari's side of the field. I'll have to end from there."

"Nice try at hiding your monsters, but it won't work. My Berserk Dragon can attack four monsters at once, so I choose all four hats on Yugi's side of the field!" Leichter says.

"Well I reveal my Deck Master; Divine Queen! Her ability allows me to negate one attack per duel and I'll choose this one. This will save our Deck Master's for now." I say.

"Fine, try to delay the inevitable, but you'll lose soon enough. Unfortunately, my dragon loses 500 attack points due to its ability, but it still doesn't concern me. Just make your last move!"

This draw could either help us win or lose. I draw Book of Secret Arts. This helps, but doesn't give either of our monsters enough attack points to overcome Berserk Dragon. Wait, Dark Magician's Deck Master ability! "Okay, I play Book of Secret Arts and use it on Dark Magician! That will end my turn." I say.

I start staring at Yami to see if he can figure out my plan. The Big Five would probably kick me out of the duel if I flat-out told him, so this is for him to figure out on his own. Yami looks at his Dark Magician for a second, as if thinking of what he'd be able to do. His eyes then light up, "Alright, it's time to end this! Dark Magician still doesn't have enough attack power to defeat your Berserk Dragon, but by using its ability, I can pay 1000 Life Points to duplicate the effect of Book of Secret Arts and use it to give my Magician 3500 attack points! Dark Magician, wipe out their Dragon and the rest of their Life Points!"

Yes, we win! Finally, now these creeps can return Tristan and get away from us. "Okay, you lost now give Tristan's body back." I say as Yami and I approach the Big Five.

"You've mistaken me for someone who plays fair! But we're not leaving until we get a body for each of us!" Leichter says. All five of their Deck Master's then appear and lunge toward the two of us. Before, we can do anything, a barrier forms around us. What was that?

"Breaking my rules again, are we?" I hear Noah say. "You five have messed up enough times already!"

The Big Five disappears, taking Tristan's body with them.

**I screwed the rules a few times with this duel, mostly with the Dark Flare Knight stuff. And I just had to add the 'you'll find out I'm about to summon it' thing, it just needed to be put it for the sake of humor. **


	25. Battle of the Kaiba's

~Sabrina~

"Cut it out! Stop it! What are you doing?!" The robot monkey Tristan yells.

Joey is currently shaking him violently, "I'm trying to see if you have some way to get out of here! You have to have a switch or something!" Joey says.

"Here let me try Joey." Duke says. He ends up finding a secret compartment in the back of Tristan and presses the number '5'. Tristan then starts racing around Duke and Joey, but Duke was able to grab him.

"Let's try '2'." He says. Now a propeller comes out of Tristan's head and he flies around us, just barely missing our heads. Luckily, it wears off when he crashes to the ground.

"Any other bright ideas, Duke?" I ask.

"Hey, at least I'm trying!" he says.

"Hold on guys, what about this button?" Yugi says. The button has the letter 'E' on it and is red, unlike the other white ones. Yugi presses it, causing Tristan's eyes to glow red.

"Initiating emergency primate escape sequence." He says. His face glows red and then reveals a door in front of us, "Passageway revealed, program complete."

We walk up to the door and open it to reveal a colorful building with 'Kaiba Land' labeled on the front. "Let's go guys, this is probably where the exit is." I say.

Tristan rushes past us and keeps moving without saying a word. "What's wit him?" Joey asks.

"I don't know, maybe he's still in 'escape sequence' mode." I say.

The rest of us walk through the door and make our way toward the building, which the door is wide open. All we're doing is basically following Tristan. "Tristan, would ya slow down?" Joey asks.

Tristan stops, and then turns to face us, "Intruder alert! Intruder alert! Must terminate!" he says. Laser guns then come out of his hands and threaten to fire, but Joey kicks him to the ground, which disables the program.

"Huh? What's going on?" Tristan asks.

"You went into crazy-psycho-kill mode, but don't worry, your fine now." Joey says.

"Um…"

"Anyways, where to now?" I ask.

We all start looking around for a possible exit or doorway, "What about that one?" Yugi says pointing ahead to a door on the left.

We all nod and head over to the door and open it. It's nothing but a dark, empty room with a table in the center with an old movie projector on it. "Should we turn it on?" Tea asks.

"Sure, why not?" Yugi says as he flicks a switch on it.

It starts projecting on the wall in front of us. It's just small clips of Noah and Gozaburo doing father-son things. Near the end though, a clip comes up of a church with Gozaburo and a woman, who I suppose is his wife walking out, with the woman sobbing. She also holds a picture of Noah in her arms, _"How could this have happened?" she says._

_"Don't worry, I'll fix this. There's nothing on this Earth that I can't do." Gozaburo says. "If we want to save him, we're going to have to act fast."_

Save him? "Was Noah in an accident of some sort?" Yugi says.

"It seems a bit more serious than that." I say.

"Eh, whatever, let's just move on." Joey says.

We exit the room and start searching for a way to escape, when Tristan calls us over. "Look, train tracks!" he says.

"We're not seriously going to follow these are we?" Tea says.

"What other choice do we have?" I say.

"Can't we wait for the next train?"

"Who needs a train, when we've got this!" Tristan says. We look over to see him standing on a handcar waiting on the track.

"Alright, nice score Tristan!" Joey says.

We jump down onto the track and then get onto the handcar. Joey and Duke end up as the ones pumping it, while the rest of us take it easy. At first, the ride seems rather calming, until Tristan starts nagging over getting more speed. I don't mind going like 50 miles per hour, but the way Joey and Duke are pumping it, this thing seems pretty unstable. "Do you guys know if this thing has a brake on it?" I ask.

"Heck with brakes! Speed it up guys!" Tristan says.

"Alright, then let's see you try and pump this thing!" Joey says.

"My arms aren't long enough you idiot!"

"This looks like a brake!" Joey says as he tears something off. The handcar begins to slow down, but then some of the pieces fall off and we seem to be going even faster now.

"Oh great job, Joey! Now you've turned this thing into a possible death trap!" I yell.

"Well what did you expect me to do!?" he yells.

"Do something productive!"

The turns are probably the worst part. Each time, I swear I'm going to fall off this thing, and I bet the others feel the same way. After a while of near-death, or at least near-serious injury experiences, there's a light at the end, but I don't see any tracks up ahead. Crap!

The handcar ends up falling out of a portal, causing all of us to crash with it. I look up to see that we're on a platform surrounded by lava. "Everyone okay?" Yugi asks.

"I think so." Tea says.

"Look over there! It's Kaiba dueling Noah!"

Kaiba's Deck Master is Kaiser Sea Horse, when it looks like Noah doesn't even have a Deck Master. "I play Giant Flood! This will wash any every monster you control, and I think this is a proper time to introduce my Deck Master; Shinato's Ark! Its ability allows it to capture every monster in our Graveyard's and keep them inside itself. Every monster that goes to the Graveyard will be rerouted into Shinato's Ark." Noah says.

"I summon Spear Dragon in attack mode and have him attack you directly!" Kaiba says.

"Arise, Vampire Lord! Using my Deck Master's ability, I can summon any monster from inside itself to save my Life Points. And with its destruction, it goes right back into my Ark."

Noah is down to 2800 Life Points. Spear Dragon goes into defense mode after it attacks. The scenery changes where we're in a forest. "I summon Giant Rex and have him attack!" Noah says. "Struggling, Seto? Well good! Now my brain up there will capture every minute of it and I can relive watching it!"

I look up to see a metal sphere floating in midair. That's his brain? It probably has something to do with that accident. "I activate Pot of Greed! Now I activate Kaiser Sea Horse's ability, allowing me to summon a light monster from my hand and I choose Different Dimension Dragon! I set three cards face-down and end my turn," Kaiba says.

"I activate Deepest Impact! This destroys every monster on the field and halves each of our Life Points." Noah has 1400, Kaiba has 700. Snow begins to fall onto the field. Giant Rex goes into the Ark, but Kaiba's Dragon stays due to its effect. "I summon Last Tusk Mammoth in attack mode and have him attack!"

"I activate Ring of Destruction, to destroy your monster and inflict damage to both of us, and I also play Ring of Defense, which protects my Life Points!"

Noah has 600 Life Points left. The snow stops falling, but still leaves some on the ground. "I switch my Dragon into attack mode and then send Thunder Dragon from my hand to the Grave. But, I get two more dragons, due to its ability. Then I activate Polymerization to fuse my two Thunder Dragons together to form Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon! Then I activate Quick Attack, so I can attack this turn."

"You forget about my Ark's ability though Seto. I summon Giant Soldier of Stone and Giant Rex to the field in defense mode!"

"I play this; Dragon's Rage! And when I attack, the difference between my attack and your defense will come out of your Life Points! Different Dimension Dragon, attack!"

Noah is left with 400 Life Points. "Now, let's finish th-!"

"Don't do it!" Mokuba appears on Noah's side and shields him, "If you want to attack my brother Noah, then you'll have to go through me." He says.

Did Noah brainwash him? "Ha ha ha! You've fallen into my trap Seto! Now you have a decision to make; either forfeit this duel and turn Kaiba Corp over to me or finish your attack and risk hurting Mokuba. Which is it; Mokuba, or your company?" Noah says.

"Fine, I end my turn."

"How weak, you can never run a company if you act like that! But no matter, this will be over soon, so I activate my Ark's second ability, allowing me to banish each monster within it to give me 500 Life Points for each one. Now that will increase my Life Points to 6400! I play Dark Hole to destroy every monster on the field. Unfortunately, your Dimension Dragon stays, but I'll clear that up soon."

Kaiba switches his Dragon into defense mode then ends his turn. The field changes into grassland with a city in the background. "I play Gradius in attack mode! Then I equip him with Cyclon Laser so I can inflict piercing battle damage. Then I activate Matter Leveller, giving him more attack points! Gradius, attack his Dragon!"

Kaiba is down to 600 Life Points, and his Dragon returns due to its effect. Kaiba passes. Noah summons Gradius' Option. Gradius attacks, leaving Kaiba with 500 Life Points, but his Dragon still returns. Gradius' Option attacks Dimension Dragon, leaving Kaiba with 400 Life Points. But his Dragon keeps coming back."Mokuba! I can't win this duel without you, snap out of it! We're family and nothing will change that! You even helped me to get where we are today, by supporting me and always being there for me!" Kaiba says.

"I remember…" Mokuba says. He starts struggling with who to stand by, and Kaiba keeps dueling.

"I set one card face-down and then use my Deck Master's special ability. By tributing my Dimension Dragon, I can summon my Blue-Eyes White Dragon!"

"S-Seto. I remember now. You're my brother!" Mokuba says. He runs away from Noah, giving Kaiba the chance to attack and putting Noah at 4900 Life Points.

"Don't celebrate yet! I use Shinato's Ark ability to give me 7400 Life Points!" Noah says.

"Hold on Noah, I reveal my trap card; Last Turn! Each of us must discard our entire hands and then pick one monster to stay on our side of the field. Then both monsters will battle and whoever has the most attack points wins. And I choose my Blue-Eyes, what do you pick Noah?"

"I choose my Deck Master; Shinato's Ark!"

"Blue-Eyes, finish this!"

"Wrong! By destroying the Ark-form, you've revealed my real Deck Master; Sinato, King of a Higher Plane! Shinato, attack!"

Oh no! Shinato is stronger than Blue-Eyes, making Noah win the duel. "And as my final act, I will merge with Shinato. But why escape with your body Seto? No, I have others to choose from. I plan to make you a permanent fixture in this world!"

Mokuba runs toward Kaiba, but is held back by a flash of light. When it clears Kaiba and Mokuba are turned to stone. It can't be! Noah can't do this, can he? The gang and I run up to them in hopes of finding a way to revive them, but I don't think we can.

~Ari~

"Noah! You think this proves you're the best?" Yami shouts, "I think it proves you're a coward!"

"Please Yugi, I won this fair and square!"

"You think kidnapping Mokuba and using him and fair!? Kaiba could've easily taken you down Noah, but instead he chose the safety of Mokuba over his victory! The only thing that's been proven is that you're a small and weak boy who cheats to get what he wants! But I have a proposition for you; Kaiba still has 400 Life Points left, so I'm willing to duel you with those Life Points!"

"That's ridiculous! Why would I agree to that?"

"If you don't then it proves your weak!"

"Very well, Yugi. And once I've won, then I'll turn each one of you into stone." The land around Yami and Noah rises into the air, "So enjoy your last moment of freedom!"

**Noah's making too many Bible references! It burns! And can Yugioh get through one season without having someone being possessed? I mean really. **


	26. Facing Noah

~Ari~

I want to say that Yami is going to win this duel, but the odds are stacked against him. Noah has 7400 Life Points and Yami only has 400. And besides, who knows if Noah is going to start cheating again? But no matter what, we have to hope that Yami will win this.

Yami has the first move, "I play Gazelle the King of Mythical Beasts in defense mode! That ends my turn." He says.

Noah draws, "Even if I didn't draw a monster, I'll still use Shinato to attack your Gazelle! And I'll also use his ability; allowing me to halve your Life Points to a mere 200! And now those Life Points you lost will add to mine."

Noah has 7600 Life Points. "I play this in defense mode and end my turn." Yami says.

"I play Yata-Garasu in attack mode! Now I use Shinato to attack!"

"Wrong! My monster was Obnoxious Celtic Guardian, and he can't be destroyed by monsters with 1900 or more attack points!"

"Well I can still activate Spring of Rebirth! Now I gain 500 Life Points for each monster that returns to the player's hand. And Yata-Garasu returns to my hand at the end of my turn, which adds my Life Points up to 8100!"

Yami plays another monster in defense mode. "I summon Asura Priest in attack mode! Asura, attack his Obnoxious Celtic Guardian! And Asura's ability allows it to attack every monster on your side of the field, so say goodbye to your last defense!"

"Nice try, Noah, but you've attacked my Cyber Jar! Now it will destroy every monster on your side of the field, and last time I checked, Shinato was still on your field, so that means you lose!"

"I activate my Deck Master's other ability!" Shinato disappears and Cyber Jar is destroyed. Did Yami just win? Shinato comes back and moment later with Noah beside him. "Looks like Shinato did a good job protecting me." Noah says, "You see, whenever Shinato is targeted, it can remove itself from the field and return on the side-lines. It will stay there for the duration of the duel."

Shinato seems _way_ too overpowered. Cyber Jar also allows both of them to draw five cards and summon all the monsters they've drawn; Yami summons Sangan and Gamma the Magnet Warrior, while Noah has no monsters. "Alright, I sacrifice both of my monsters in order to summon the Dark Magician! And Sangan's ability allows me to add one monster with 1500 or less attack to my hand so I choose Big Shield Gardna! Dark Magician, attack him directly!"

Noah is down to 5600. "I activate Next World! This card chooses one of your monsters and allows me to summon one with the same number of stars; so I choose Yamata Dragon! Yamata, destroy his Dark Magician!" Yami has 100 Life Points left, "Now that 100 Life Points transfer to me, and Yamata Dragon goes to my hand, activating Spring of Rebirth gives me 500 more Life Points."

Noah is up to 6200. "I activate Swords of Revealing Light! Then I summon Kuriboh and use him to attack you directly!"

Noah has 5900. He sets a monster then ends his turn. Yami summons Big Shield Gardna in defense mode and switches Kuriboh into defense mode. Noah sets a card and another monster. Yami sets a card and ends his turn. "This Noah creep has nothing on Yugi! We're all down here cheerin Yug!" Joey says.

"Yeah, we're all here for you Yami!" I say.

"Your fan club is starting to annoy me Yugi. They think you can win, but they are obviously clueless to anything around here." Noah says.

"How about you say that to our faces! You're probably just jealous that Yugi actually has friends, when you're just a spoiler brat inside a computer, thinking you know everything!" Joey yells.

"Joey stop it, you're going to get him mad and then who knows what will happen." I say.

"Control your friends Yugi!" Noah says, "I've listened to them long enough and I think it's time for them to get what's coming to them!"

He blasts a flash of light near us and the next thing we know, Duke is turned to stone. "Noah, stop cheating! If you're trying to prove you're the best, then start playing fair!" I yell.

"But that was way too much fun. I think to continue the excitement; I'll turn you all into stone! But not all at once, what's the fun in that? No, each passing turn that I go through will end in another statue!" Noah says, "Now to continue this duel, I play Pyro Clock of Destiny! Now I can pass by one turn so your Swords of Revealing Light will be gone! Then I summon Otohime in attack mode and use its ability to switch your Kuriboh into attack mode! Then I sacrifice Otihime and my face-down to summon Yamata Dragon! Yamata, attack!"

"I activate Nutrient Z to protect my Life Points! Now my trap card leaves my Life Points at 1800."

"Very well, but I activate Sebek's Blessing to bring my Life Points to 10500! Then I use Spring of Reborth when Yamata Dragon returns to my hand to give me 11000! And as an added bonus, I think I'll turn another friend into stone!"

The flash appears again and Tristan was targeted. "Now that that's over, let's continue this duel."

"I summon Alpha the Magnet Warrior and use him to attack you directly!" Yami says.

Noah has 9600 Life Points. "I summon Inaba White Rabbit in attack mode! His ability allows him to attack you directly! And after, I use Spring of Rebirth and the ability of Sinato to boost my Life Points to 10800!" Yami has 1100 Life Points, "Time to say goodbye to Serenity!"

"Serenity, no!" Joey yells. It's too late though; she's already turned to stone.

"I set one card face-down. And then I sacrifice Alpha to summon Dark Magician Girl! She gains 300 attack for the Dark Magician in my Graveyard, so then I use her to attack you directly!"

Noah is down to 8500. "I summon Inaba White Rabbit in attack mode!"

"I activate Dark Renewal! Now I can sacrifice my Big Shield Gardna and your White Rabbit so I can bring back my Dark Magician!"

"I set one card face-down. And tell you what; I'm willing to turn your friends back to normal only if you forfeit the duel. Of course, Seto and Mokuba will have to stay here though."

"Yugi, don't do it! You'll win this and set all of us free!" Joey says.

"Nobody asked for your opinion Joey!" Noah shouts. Joey is turned to stone, leaving Tea and I.

"Noah, how dare you! You're just a brat who thinks he can get whatever he wants just by changing the rules!" Tea shouts.

"It doesn't matter. What does matter is if Yugi is going to agree to this bargain I'm giving him."

"I've got news for you Noah; my answer is no. I still plan to win this, so I activate Dark Magic Ritual! By sending Valkrion the Magna Warrior from my hand to the Grave, I can summon Magician of Black Chaos! Now my Magicians, attack him directly!"

"Activate trap; Chaos Barrier Field! With this I can take control of Dark Magician Girl and use her as a shield for my Life Points! Now that attack just brought you down to 300 Life Points Yugi."

Noah has 9300 Life Points due to Shinato's effect. "I set a two cards face-down and play a monster in defense mode! Now it's time to say goodbye to another friend!"

The flash hits Tea this time, making me the only one left. Yami cringes, probably thinking of me being the one next, "Yami, don't worry about me, just keep dueling!" I shout.

"But-"

"It doesn't matter! Even if I do turn to stone, then just know that we're all here for you!"

He nods, but still seems unsure. Yami draws, but Noah interrupts, "I play Ground Breaking, allowing me to bring Inaba White Rabbit to my hand." He says.

"I activate Card Destruction, so you must discard your Rabbit! Now, Magician of Black Chaos, attack his face-down monster!"

"You just revealed my Otohime! Now she can switch your Dark Magician into defense mode. She gets destroyed still, but I play Vessel of Illusion so I can summon a Spirit Token in defense mode! Now it's my turn, I activate Change of Heart so I can control your Dark Magician! Now I tribute your Magician and my Token so I can summon Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi! Then I play Flaming Fist to increase his attack and when he attacks, I get 500 more Life Points! Now destroy his Magician of Black Chaos!"

Noah has 10000 Life Points, while Yami only has 100. That last hit caused Yami to fall over, "Yami, get up!" I yell.

He starts to get to is feet, "You know, I think it's time to complete my statue collection. So say goodbye!" Noah says.

"NO!" Yami shouts. It's too late, he can't change it. The flash of lightning hits me, causing my body to stiffen. I hope Yami can win this; the fate of all of us depends on him. My face starts to stiffen, causing me to black out.

**The episode ended when Yami was about to win, so I just decided to have them turn back to normal in the next chapter. Judge all you want, but I'm sticking to that. So, I'll see ya in the next chapter!**


	27. Secrets Within

~Ari~

The stone disappears and I get feeling back in my body. I look around to see that everyone is alright. "Looks like Yugi won the duel." Duke says.

Kaiba turns around to face us, "What duel?" he asks.

"Your duel. He fought using your last remaining Life Points and used some of your cards." I say.

Kaiba looks down at his Duel Disk to see his deck isn't there and then grunts. I look up to where Yami and Noah were dueling to see that the land around them is fitting back into place with the ground. Noah falls over unto his knees, "Why? Why did this happen?" he says to himself.

Yami walks up to him, "It was the strength of my friends that guided me. Maybe you can learn something from that Noah." He says.

"It's not fair though! Seto took everything from me, I should run Kaiba Corp! I want my life back, and I'll start by using your body!" Noah tackles Yami and tries to enter his body, but Yami shoves him backward.

I run up to them to see if Yami is alright, with the others closely behind me. "You've lost Noah, so give Tristan back his body and let us out of here." Yami says.

"Ha ha ha ha! You want your body back, do you? Do you really think that you've gone anywhere? No, your bodies are all inside cyber pods; everything here is virtual and therefore has only been happening in your minds." Noah says.

It's just like last time then. We were never falling inside the Virtual World; we probably just fell unconscious and were put into the pods. The sky darkens and turns purple. What is Noah planning now? "You've failed me for the last time Noah!"

"Father? Is that really you?" Noah says.

The clouds shift and Gozaburo Kaiba's face appears. "Yes, after my disgrace of losing to Seto, I decided to digitize my own mind, knowing it was the only way I could come back and seek revenge. That day has finally come Seto." He says.

"So you've been behind this the entire time?" Kaiba says.

"Yes, and once my father defeats you Seto, I'll be the owner of Kaiba Corp, right Father?" Noah says.

"You're not worthy of the company Noah!"

"And so do you think _you_ are?" Kaiba says, "The company belongs to me, because nobody else was fit for the job!"

"You brat! I taught you everything you know! Of course, you are more qualified for the job than Noah ever could be, but both of you don't even deserve to be called a Kaiba!"

"But you trapped me here because you knew I was the better son!" Noah says.

"That only lasted a short time. My original plan for Seto was to upload Noah's mind into his body so he could continue the Kaiba legacy. But, why trash a far superior mind for a clearly weaker one? And I planned to use Seto's body to reclaim my empire!"

"So you used me to trap them here…" Noah says.

"Yes, because that's the only thing your good for! See this?" an image of a satellite appears next to him.

"What do you plan to use that for?" Kaiba asks.

"This satellite was placed orbiting the earth recently by my underwater base. And I plan to use it to launch missiles to destroy the world, and run my empire in the Virtual World! And no one will stop me!"

That's insane! Why would he try and destroy an entire planet just to run his company?! Gozaburo disappears, along with the clouds. Noah turns his attention toward us, "Follow me, I can get you out of here. If we hurry, then you'll be able to stop the missiles." He says.

"And why should we trust you?" Joey says.

"You think I want my father to destroy the Earth? I know that you guys can escape and save everyone; something I can never do."

We look around at each other for signs of agreement or disagreement. "Alright, but you better be telling the truth!" Joey says.

Noah nods and starts walking ahead of us, where the rest of us catch up. We're lead into the forest nearby. "Do you think Noah is telling the truth?" I ask Yami.

"I don't know what to expect. But he does seem to hate his father, so that's the only thing we know for sure." He says.

"But what if he's lying?"

"I suppose we'll have to find our own way out then."

Noah leads us into a cave, making me feel more uneasy about him. Yami grabs my hand into his, probably sensing my uneasiness. "There it is!" Noah shouts. He runs up to a control panel and starts pressing buttons on it, "Oh no, the emergency exit is blocked off. My father must've done this."

"Every virtual reality system has more than one exit Noah, so why don't you use your brain for once?" Kaiba says.

"What's wrong Seto, want to leave so soon? If my father sealed all the exits, then we can stay here together; we'll be a big happy family! I'll never be alone again!" Noah says laughing. Okay, I knew he was lying.

"Noah, stop it! Get a hold of yourself!" Mokuba says shaking him.

Noah finally stops laughing, "Oh wait, I just thought of another exit."

"Where is it!?" Kaiba shouts, now getting angry.

"Follow me." Noah says walking to the exit of the cave.

"He's lying." Yami says.

"Huh?" I say.

"I feel that he's misleading us."

_"I'm not sure about that." Yugi says. "I mean, Noah hates Gozaburo as much as Kaiba does, so why wouldn't he help us?"_

_"Yugi, are you forgetting that Noah has been trying to kill us from the beginning?" Sabrina says._

_"Well maybe he's changed. Yami, can I take over, I want to see this for myself."_

_"Very well, Yugi." He says._

_"Me too, Ari." Sabrina says. I nod._

~Sabrina~

There's another exit of the cave that Noah leads us to. Below the entrance is a bunch of canyons. We're lead into one of them, where at the end is a giant door. "Here it is. Once you walk through this, you'll wake up in the real world. Good luck." Noah says. The door opens, leaving us to walk inside.

"So what's so special with you? Are you Marik, or some wannaby that follows his every order?" I say.

"Keep quiet. For now, you'll do as you're told."

I look up at the guy to see that it's Odion. I also notice that I'm tied to a chair. "Or wait? You guys don't scare me." I say.

Wait; didn't I already say that before? This can't be real is it? No, I already went through this when I was kidnapped by Marik. Upon realizing this, I'm transported to what looks like Domino Station. I notice that everyone else is here too. "What happened?" Tea asks.

"Noah probably tricked us." I say.

"Yeah, but where is he?" Joey asks.

"Kaiba and Mokuba are gone too!" Yugi says.

"We've got to find them!"

**As you can probably tell, I'm using parts of the Japanese version. In my opinion, that version is better sometimes. I can't wait to finish the Virtual World arc and get back to Battle City.**


	28. Escape

~Sabrina~

"That brat! Why did we even bother trusting him? I say we find him and then beat him up till he begs for mercy!" Joey says.

"Joey, we need a plan here. Randomly beating people up doesn't help us." Yugi says.

"But let's put that down as Plan B just in case." I say.

"Let's just find Noah, alright?"

"But where do we even start looking?" Tea asks.

An army of Duel Monsters then surrounds us. It consists of Cosmo Queen, Skull Knights, Command Knights, Lizard Soldiers, and Rock Ogre Grottos. A Lizard Soldier then aims for Serenity, but Yugi summons Curse of Dragon and destroys it. "Good idea Yugi, I summon my Axe Raider!" Joey says.

"And I summon Luster Dragon!" I say.

Our monsters destroy most of the army, but they keep coming back. "Where are they coming from?" I ask.

"I don't know. Maybe Noah's behind it." Yugi says.

While we try and fight them off, we end up going deeper into the city. Axe Raider gets destroyed, and then Luster Dragon, and finally Curse of Dragon. We're in the center of town by now. "Uh, what now?" I ask.

"RUN!" Joey yells.

That sounds like a decent plan. The monsters follow us, but we end up losing them. "Come on, over here." Joey says luring us toward an alleyway.

We sneak inside and make sure we weren't seen. "Are they coming back?" Serenity asks.

"I think they're gone for now." Duke says.

"You might want to rethink that." Tea says pointing behind us. One of the Lizard Soldiers is positioning for attack.

"Dark Magician, come forth!" Yugi says

"Divine Queen, help us out!" I say.

"I summon Gearfried the Iron Knight!" Joey says.

Our monsters destroy Lizard Soldier, but lots more are waiting to attack. Those are destroyed as well, leaving Cosmo Queen as our last victim. "Alright, attack!" the three of us say.

It looks like that was the last monster. "Can anyone hear me?"

"Is-is that Noah?" Yugi says.

Noah's voice echoes all around the Virtual World. "Look, the Virtual World is about to be destroyed, you need to get out now!" he says.

Okay, now I vote on using Plan B; beating Noah to a pulp. "I'm sorry for mistreating you guys, but the satellite missiles are now directed at the computer that controls the Virtual World. And if that gets destroyed, then so do your minds."

Why us? Why are we the ones who always get into this kind of trouble? "Listen, the only exit is located in the Domino Arcade!" Noah says.

"And how do we know if we can trust you?" I ask.

"Sabrina, it's our only chance." Yugi says, "What have we got to lose?"

Ourselves, maybe? I realize that there's no use arguing, if there is an exit, I'm willing to find it. "Fine, Yugi."

"Let's go then."

We start running toward the Domino Arcade. I hear a roar behind us and see that the Duel Monster army is back. "I don't think we can outrun them. We'll have to stay and fight." Yugi says.

"Yeah! The rest of you guys get outta here. We'll meet you at da arcade." Joey says.

"But Joey, I'm not going without you!" Serenity says.

"Serenity, you have to go. Tea, make sure to get her there safely."

"Alright, good luck you guys. We'll meet you there." Tea says. She, Serenity, Duke, and Tristan then make their way toward the arcade.

"You ready guys?" I say.

"Aw yeah! Flame Swordsman time!" Joey says.

I use Divine Queen, while Yugi has Dark Magician. We destroy the monsters in our way, but some keep reappearing and attacking. The three of us make it to the entrance of the arcade, but more Duel Monsters are blocking our way. "Dark Magic Attack!" Yugi shouts.

That gets rid of them and also blasts away the door to the arcade. "Divine Queen, come back." I say.

"You too Flame Swordsman." Joey says.

"And Dark Magician." Yugi adds.

"The exit is the stage in the very back. Just step onto the blue and red platforms." Noah says.

"You guys go first, I'll catch up." Yugi says.

"Alright." Joey says.

I step onto the blue platform, while Joey goes onto the red one. We're then automatically uploaded back into the real world.

I open my eyes to find that I'm in one of the virtual pods. I push open the glass around it and step out. It seems Tristan doesn't look like a monkey anymore. I look over to see someone at the control panel against the wall. I walk up to them, "Mokuba?" I say.

"Not quite. It's me." He says.

"Noah?"

This gets everyone else's attention. "Yes, I had to barrow Mokuba's body in order to save you guys." He says.

"If you're here then, is Mokuba still in the Virtual World?"

"Yes, along with Seto and Yugi. I told Yugi to stay back so I could help him rescue Seto."

"What?! Yugi's stuck in dat place just because Kaiba doesn't have enough brains to find the exit?!" Joey says.

"He's stuck in a duel with my father. I uploaded a shortcut so Yugi can reach him faster." Noah says.

"But wait, why are you trying to rescue Kaiba? I thought you still hated him." Tea says.

Noah sighs, "I was wrong. I'm sorry for acting the way that I did. I was jealous and angry at all of you mostly because you had something I didn't; friends."

"And I guess we're sorry too. For all that stuff we said about ya." Joey says.

"I deserved all of it."

"Warning! Satellite missiles launch in four minutes! Evacuate now!" the computer says.

"Time's almost up; you all need to return to the blimp."

"Alright, but get them out of there quickly. You're the only one here capable of doing that." I say.

"I know. Please hurry."

We run out of the room and start rushing down a long hallway. This fortress is so huge though that we don't know which way is correct. We then reach a fork in the path, "Which way?" Joey says.

"Wait, don't you here that?" Tea says, "To the right, there are machines over there."

"This is a mechanical fortress, everything has machines!" Joey yells.

"Let's just go to the right." I say, "It's the only lead we have."

We run down there to see lights coming from the other end. Come on, please be the blimp! We reach the end of it to find the blimp there and it's been released from its holding. Roland is waiting outside, "Where's Mister Kaiba?" he asks.

"He's still trapped in there." Duke says.

"Same with Yugi and Mokuba." Tea adds.

"I'm going to raise the platform. Then the blimp will be ready for takeoff as soon as they arrive." Roland says.

He hits a switch and the roof above us opens up and the floor starts to rise. The blimp and all of us are now on top of the fortress. It's nice to have real fresh air instead of virtual. We wait there for a few minutes, but no one shows up. Roland goes back inside the blimp to prepare takeoff. Come on Yugi, where are you guys?

"We should head inside the blimp, Roland is about to take off." Tea says.

"But what about Yugi and the Kaiba's?" I say.

"I hope they show up." Joey says.

We walk inside the door to the blimp, but keep it open in case we see the others. The blimp starts to lift into the air, meaning we only have seconds left. I look back at the door to the fortress, "Wait, I see them!"

"Come on guys, we'll catch ya!" Joey says. Joey and Duke go to the bottom of the stairs and hold out their hands. Kaiba ends up throwing Mokuba at them and then jumps on. Joey grabs a hold of Yugi. Kaiba presses a button on the wall and closes the door once we're all inside.

The blimp starts to get away from the fortress, but we're too slow. I hear a loud crash behind us and realize that the missiles hit already. The shaking from the explosion causes all of us to fall over. Kaiba gets back onto his feet and then heads for the control room. The rest of us notice this and decide to head there as well. The blimp rumbles again, and then I look out the window and we actually start moving faster. "What was that?" Yugi asks.

"I turned to blimp inside its emergency form. Now we should be able to get away with no problems." Kaiba says.

After we all regain our footing and the explosion dies down, we watch the remains of the fortress disappear in the distance. "You know, Noah actually wasn't that bad once you got past all of his anger." Joey says.

"Yeah, he proved himself today." I say.

I look over at Mokuba to see he has a bouquet of lilies in his hands. He opens one of the smaller windows and throws them out, "Farewell in your final journey Noah, and you will always be known as one thing to me; brother." He says.

"Psh, good riddance. I've had enough detours, now it's time to get down to business. Roland, regain our course to Kaiba Corp Island." Kaiba says.

**I just had to add the lilies that Mokuba was holding. It was a touching way to signify Noah's death. But no, 4Kids has to be retarded and say 'nope, he was on a back-up file! Now let's all be cheerful and crap and go back to playing children's card games!'. And Kaiba always has to ruin those touching moments, too.**


	29. Duel That Decides Fate

~Sabrina~

I'm glad Noah's out of the way so I can start thinking about the matter at hand. There's four of us left; Kaiba, Marik, Yugi, and me. _"If its Yugi's destiny to face Marik, then I'll probably have to face Kaiba." I tell Ari._

_"That's probably how it will play out. But what if Yugi can't handle Marik? Everyone he faced so far has lost not only the duel, but their mind." She says._

_"He's taken Odion, Mai, and then we found Bakura, or at least the Millennium Ring. But Yugi will beat him, I'm sure of that."_

_"I hope your right."_

"Sabrina, we've got to get going!" Yugi says knocking on the door.

I grab my Duel Disk and secure it on my arm and then open the door. Yugi, Tea, Duke, Tristan, and Joey are waiting. "Sorry guys, I was doing something." I say.

"Attention passengers, we are beginning our descent onto Kaiba Corp Island. Please wait for the aircraft to land for further instruction." The intercom says.

"Come on guys, let's check it out!" Yugi says. We follow him downstairs and then exit the aircraft. The island isn't all that great, nothing but scraps of metal. But the Duel Tower Kaiba was talking about is _huge._ You could probably still see it from miles away from here.

Kaiba steps off the aircraft, "This Island is the site for the old Kaiba Corp, but I tore everything down. The Duel Tower is where the rest of this tournament will commence. And I plan to defeat all of you at the very top!" he says.

~Ari~

"Look Kaiba, just because you're in dis tournament doesn't mean you're gonna win!" Joey yells.

"You're not even in the finals anymore Wheeler. Because a sorry amateur like you didn't even win the first duel you were in. Now stand aside, you're wasting my time." Kaiba says.

He heads toward the Duel Tower and has the rest of us following him. As we're walking, I notice Marik standing on top of the scraps, "What a lovely day Pharaoh." He says, "Too bad some of your friends can't enjoy this. Now, when do I get to meet my next victim?"

"Just keep your cool, we'll tell you once we get inside the tower!" Mokuba yells.

"Then proceed so we can begin the fun."

We reach the doors to the tower, which seem quite thick. They open up to reveal a dark hallway. At the end, Roland is waiting, "Step to the center of the tower. The second half of the finals will start here." He says.

The room actually isn't all that large. Not too impressive either. There's enough room for a duel to happen, but the way Kaiba speaks about this tower seems like it would be classier than this. "We have four remaining finalists." Roland says, "As you can see, there are four doors around you, each of you will pick one."

What's behind them? Will they tell us who we're dueling? I decide to choose the one closest to me, which is to my right. I stand in front of it and the door opens. Inside is a small and dimly lit room with a blue platform in the middle with a seat in it. I step on it, causing small barriers to rise around it and the door I came in closes.

The platform starts to rise and the lights shut off. What is Kaiba planning? I look up to see light coming from up there. The platform rises and heads into that room and stops about 25 feet above the ground. I look over and notice a screen that says '4000' next to me. The three other platforms rise to the same height mine is at and have the same '4000' next to them.

Is this like a four-way duel or something? I look up to see that the numbers go down by the thousands. "Before the Battle City champion can be crowned, we must first narrow down the finalists." Roland says from the ground, "So in the semi-final round, all remaining duelists will be reduced to two. First, the preliminary duel must be played. This will determine who-faces-who in the semi- finals. Your platforms will rise higher as your lose Life Points. The first two players to reach the top will face each other. And connect your Duel Disks to the cable in front of you."

There's a white cable plugged into the platform and I guess the other end is supposed to fit into the Duel Disk. The cable fits at the very bottom of it. So I guess we attack whoever we want to face. But the others will attack me if they want to face me. So who should I go after? I think Kaiba or Marik would be a decent choice. If I go after Kaiba, then Marik would face Yugi, which would put him in danger.

"In order to decide which duelist goes first, you will each pick one monster from your deck and the one with the highest attack points will go first. However, you can't use that monster in the duel." Roland says.

So if I want to go first, then I have to get rid of a powerful monster. No, I won't risk that. I'll just pick one of the weakest monsters I have. I decide to pick Petit Angel. I want to save my stronger cards for the duel. Everyone holds up their cards; Kaiba goes first, then Marik, Yami, and finally me.

I draw five cards, my hand has; Mirror Force, Meteor of Destruction, Fairy Witch, Kaiser Sea Horse, and Feral Imp. Kaiba draws, "I set one card face-down and then summon Vorse Raider in attack mode!" he says.

"Not bad Kaiba, but I summon Newdoria in defense mode. That's all." Marik says.

"I play Big Shield Gardna in defense mode and then play two cards face-down. I end my turn." Yami says.

I draw Divine Queen. "I play Feral Imp in defense mode! Then I use Meteor of Destruction on Marik!" I say. Marik is at 3000 while the rest of us are at 4000. His platform rises higher until it's next to the '3000' sign.

"My move." Kaiba says, "I'll use Vorse Raider to attack your Feral Imp!"

"I activate the Regulation of Tribe!" Yami says, "Now Vorse Raider can't attack as long as this card is on the field."

Why did he save me? Maybe he just wants my Life Points to be safe so I don't have to be near Marik. Now its Marik's turn, "I set two cards face-down and then I summon Lord Poison in attack mode! Then I switch Newdoria into attack mode and use it to attack Kaiba's Vorse Raider!" But Vorse Raider is stronger than Newdoria, why would he attack? "And once Newdoria is destroyed, I can send one monster on the field to the Graveyard, and I choose Vorse Raider! And then I activate Spell of Pain! Now the damage I just took I can redirect at any other player, so I choose… the Queen!"

The damage goes to me then. My Life Points drop down to 3300, causing me to go up higher. Now I'm closer to facing Marik, which I really don't have a problem with. If Marik wants to duel me, then I don't have a problem with letting that happen. Its Yami's turn now, "I sacrifice Big Shield Gardna in order to summon Beast of Gilfer! Now my Beast, attack Kaiba directly!"

"Guess again! I activate Attack Guidance Armor to redirect the attack to Marik's Lord Poison!"

"Not if I activate Mirror Force! Now all of the Pharaoh's monsters are destroyed, and I'm safe!"

"I activate Seven Tools of the Bandit! By paying 1000 Life Points, I can destroy Mirror Force!"

Now Lord Poison is destroyed and Marik is dropped to 2300 Life Points. I draw another Meteor of Destruction, "I activate Meteor of Destruction and use it on Kaiba! And then I set one card. I end my turn." I say.

So Kaiba has 3000, I have 3300; Yami has 3000, while Marik has 2300. Its Kaiba's turn, "I set three cards face-down. Then I summon Blade Knight in attack mode and use it to attack Feral Imp!" he says.

It seems like Kaiba is trying to get rid of Marik and I so he can face Yami. Marik's turn, "I summon Dark Jeroid in attack mode! And then I'll use him to attack you directly!" he says pointing at me.

"Well I activate Mirror Force! Say goodbye to your monsters!" I say.

"Activate Remove Trap! Sorry, but it looks like my attack will go through."

Now I'm at 2100. Yami's move, "I'll use my Beast of Gilfer to destroy Dark Jeroid!"

Now Marik has 1300 left. It would get this duel over quicker if I faced Marik since we're the ones losing this duel. Kaiba wants to face Yami, which will probably end in a win for Yami. If I face Marik and win, then we won't have to worry about him anymore. But if I lose, then I could risk the safety of Sabrina. _"Who should I go after?" I ask her._

_She sighs, "I don't know. I don't want to put Yugi in danger. It would be safe if we faced Yugi, but then Kaiba might lose against Marik and then he'll have two Egyptian God Cards."_

_"But Yugi's destined to defeat Marik, so wouldn't it be better for us to go after Kaiba?"_

_"It doesn't matter at this point. Somebody is going to get hurt by Marik no matter who we choose. Let's just get rid of Marik first, whoever loses after will face him."_

_"Alright."_

I draw Luster Dragon, "I summon Luster Dragon in attack mode! Now it's time to lose Marik, because your Life Points are my target!" I say.

"Fine, it makes little difference." He says as the platform rises.

"My move!" Kaiba says, "I activate Soul Exchange! And I choose to take control of your Luster Dragon, Sabrina! Now with my Blade Knight and Luster Dragon, I sacrifice them to call upon the Blue-Eyes White Dragon! It's my destiny to face Yugi, so I think I'll wipe out Sabrina's Life Points! Blue-Eyes, finish this!"

My Life Points go down to 0. Looks like I'm facing Marik. I look over to Yami, who is standing there is complete shock, probably lost for words. Kaiba on the other hand, looks quite pleased with himself. The platform rises up until mine is equal to where Marik is.

"Well this comes at a surprise." He says, "But no matter, this gives me another person to gladly send to the Shadow Realm!"

"Rethink that Marik, I'm going to win." I say.

"The match has been decided!" Roland says, "Marik Ishtar will face Sabrina Cafford first, followed by Mister Kaiba versus Yugi Muto! Proceed to the next dueling sight!"

An opening above each of the platforms appears and all four of them head upward. Let the semi-finals commence.

**Hooray, this is going to be fun. I was thinking of doing my own idea for the upcoming Shadow Game, but I (of course) need an idea for that. I just need to open my brain to the possibilities. **


	30. Facing Darkness

~Ari~

"The first duel of the semi-finals will commence in five minutes." Roland says.

Marik and my platform reach the top of the tower first. The top of the tower has no roof, just railing around it. Kaiba and Yami's platforms come up a moment later. I step out of mine and wait for the duel to commence. "Ari," I look over to see Yami coming toward me.

"What?" I say.

"Are you sure you're going to go through with this duel?"

"The only other option I have is to forfeit, and I would never do that. I don't plan on losing this duel, but that's for fate to decide."

"Then maybe this can help you." He says holding out Slifer the Sky Dragon.

"I'm not going to take that."

"Why not?"

"It's yours, not mine. And besides I don't want to risk losing it to Marik. Just keep it."

He hesitates, but then decides that there's no use in arguing. "Fine, but be careful." He kisses me, making me feel somewhat less nervous about this duel.

I separate from him, "I will."

I step up onto the dueling field, where Marik has been standing the entire time. The field rises, and the rest of the gang shows up as it does. "The first duel of the semi-finals is ready to commence. Marik Ishtar will have the first move." Roland says.

"Very well, I summon Makyura the Destructor in attack mode, and then I set two cards face-down and end my turn." Marik says.

I draw, my hand contains; Magic Cylinder, Magician's Valkria, De-Fusion, Michizure, Pot of Greed, and Soul Exchange. "I play Pot of Greed!" I draw Jack's Knight and Kaiser Sea Horse. "Then I summon Kaiser Sea Horse in attack mode and set two cards face-down. Kaiser Sea Horse, attack!"

"Activate Relieve Monster! Now your monster goes back to your hand and I can summon this; Revival Jam!" I end my turn from there. "The shadows grow hungry, so I think it's time to feed them!" the sky turns dark and now I know we're in a Shadow Duel.

"As all Shadow Games, the loser will be banished to the Shadow Realm. You'll find that this duel though, will be different from the one your friend was in. Instead of targeting your mental state, it targets your physical state."

"How so?"

"You'll learn soon enough. It's my move, so I send my Revival Jam to attack you directly!"

"I activate Magic Cylinder! Now that damage gets transferred to you."

Marik is down to 2500 Life Points. "Fine, but I'll send Makyura to attack also!"

I'm at 2400. Pain shoots through my body as the Life Points drop, "So, your plan is to whittle both of us down to nothing… correct?"

"Yes, but the more pain inflicted to you, the more power I gain!"

That explains why he wasn't affected too much by that last hit. I draw Gazelle the King of Mythical Beasts, "Okay, let's try this again; I summon Kaiser Sea Horse in attack mode! Now, attack Makyura!"

Marik is down to 2400. He still doesn't seem affected by the blows. "I set one card face-down and then place a monster in defense mode!"

I draw Dark Magician, "I set one card face-down and then I activate Soul Exchange! Now I choose to take control of your Revival Jam and the sacrifice both of these monsters in order to summon Dark Magician! Dark Magic Attack!"

His monster was Drillago. Marik decides to pass his turn. I draw Queen's Knight, but I decide just to attack with Dark Magician, "Dark Magician, attack him directly!"

"Activate Nightmare Wheel! Prepare to watch your Dark Magician suffer!" Marik says, "My turn again, and now Nightmare Wheel will inflict you with 500 points of damage!" My Life Points drop to 1900. More pain shoots through me and I feel like my knees could collapse. Marik activates Jam Breeding Machine which gives him a Slime Token and then ends his turn.

I draw Petit Angel, "I sacrifice… Dark Magician to summon… Jack's Knight!" I say panting. "This will get rid… of Nightmare Wheel."

"Now that it's my turn again, I get another Slime Token. That's all."

I draw Fairy Witch, "I… play Magician's Valkria in attack…mode! Then I use her to attack... your Slime Token!"

"I sacrifice my Token and get rid of my Breeding Machine so I can summon my Helpoemer! Helpoemer, attack Magician's Valkria!"

I'm down to 1500. "Well, I activate… Michizure so I can destroy… Helpoemer!" my turn, I draw Divine Queen, "I set a monster and then… have Jack's Knight… attack you directly!"

"I activate Metal Reflect Slime! This card will block your attack and be placed as a monster!"

I end my turn, so Marik draws. "I think it's time to give you a little assistance. So I'll give you my Lava Golem, but this card comes with a price. Both of your monsters need to be sacrificed."

Lava Golem obviously has another price to it. He wouldn't just give me a monster with 3000 attack points and expect to get nothing from it. I draw Heavy Storm, "Oh, and Lava Golem gives you 1000 points of damage each turn you take." Marik says.

I'm down to a mere 500 Life Points now. My legs are shaking and I end up falling to my knees, and getting back up. On my next turn, this will be over, what can I do? "I set a monster then end my turn." Marik says, "It looks like your time is up my dear."

Come on, I need to draw something useful. I draw Dark Hole. "Sorry Marik, but… I'm no out… yet. I… activate Dark Hole… this destroys Lava… Golem! Then I'll set a monster… and end my turn."

Marik draws, "I'll set another monster and end my turn."

I draw Meteor of Destruction and activate it so Marik has 1400 Life Points left. Now he seems to start to feel pain, which I'm happy about. I decide to put Gazelle the King of Mythical Beasts into attack mode and then end my turn.

Marik smiles, "The time has arrived to summon my ultimate creature!" oh no, "By sacrificing my three monsters, I can summon this; the Winged Dragon of Ra!"

Ra appears in his sphere form, so Marik has to say the ancient chant, "Great beast of the sky, please hear my cry. Transform thy self from orb of light and bring me victory in this fight. Envelop the deserts with your glow and cast your rage upon my foe. Unlock your powers from deep within so that together we may win. Appear in the Shadow Game as I call your name; the Winged Dragon of Ra!"

Ra transforms and now has a total of 3300 attack points. "Now my beast, it is time to finish this! Attack her Gazelle and bring her Life Points to zero!" Marik commands.

There's nothing I can do. I've lost this. _"I'm sorry Sabrina, I put you into too much danger this time." I tell her._

_"It's not your fault. You did your best, but Marik and Ra were too much." She says sadly._

The blast hits Gazelle and destroys it and then aims for my Life Points. The flames from the blast then target my skin, causing me to yell in pain. When the attack is finally over, smoke surfaces from my flesh and I'm still standing somehow. I don't think I can stand for much longer though. "ARI!" Yami shouts.

He goes to run up to me, but I fall over before he reaches me.

**Hopefully they didn't lose too badly. Right? Well, anyways this is going to be an interesting turn of events.** **And this Shadow Game probably wasn't very different from your usual one, but hey, I wanted to get this done today and my head wasn't thinking of anything different, oh well.**


	31. Breaking the Void

~Sabrina~

_It's like a void. The shadows spiral around me, but I can't move. To be more specific, it's like the moon. It has a light and a dark side. Something is pulling me to the light, but it's also dragging me back into the darkness. Why can't I move? The more I try to run, the more it seems like my body is made of lead._

_I finally break free and start wandering. It's nothing but black. Nothing else. There's a light up ahead, so I decide to run to it. The more I run though, the smaller it gets. I take another step, and then I fall over into a hole. I yell for someone to save me, but no one comes._

_I open my eyes again to find myself at school. Okay, this is a dream, I'm sure of it. I look up to see the gang looking at me, including Mai and Bakura. "Hey Sabrina, are you alright? You fell off your desk." Yugi says._

_"Huh?" I say._

_"Uh oh. She must be losing it. Maybe you fell harder than you though." Tea says._

_"I'm fine. But why are we at school?" _

_"Don't you remember? We're trying to save you from the shadows." Yugi says._

_"But, how?"_

_"Hey, it's your dream, you tell us!"_

_But how did I get here? Marik. He did this to me. The bell rings signaling that school is over for the day, "Come on Sabrina, get off the floor. We've got to be somewhere." Yugi says._

_"Where?"_

_"The museum of course! Man, you must've really injured your head."_

_This dream doesn't make any sense. But then again, when do dreams ever make sense? I decide to follow the gang across town and into the museum. They lead me into the Egyptian Exhibit that we went to when we tried to look for answers about Yami and Ari. "Well, what do you want to look at?" Tea asks._

_"But we've already been here before. Why are we here again?" I ask._

_"Sabrina, dis is your mind. Anything can happen here. Now how about we go inta that secret basement Yug and you went into last time." Joey says._

_I go to object, but Joey drags me by the arm into there. The stone tablet telling the battle of Yugi and Kaiba is still there. "Okay, what now?" I say._

_"Something tells us that this battle is happening right now. We're waiting for something to happen." Tristan says._

_But Yugi's right here. Why would this battle be happening inside my head? Unless, they're battling outside this messed-up dream. I look back over to the tablet. The carvings of Obelisk and Slifer glow, along with the ones of Kaiba and Yugi. What's going on? The floor below me collapses and I fall into it, as the others just watch me._

_What's happening? Is this related to the battle between Yugi and Kaiba? I fall through a dark portal and then land floating above some kind of city. It looks completely destroyed though. I also notice that the city has some Egyptian qualities to it. The sky is dark and clouded, making the place look even more devastated._

_I look over to see three statues. They're each shaped like each of the Egyptian Gods. But there's too much detail in them. People couldn't have built these, right? What is they are the Egyptian Gods? How did they turn to stone?_

_There's a Palace behind me, it seems the darkness is coming from there. A light then forms around me and it transports me inside. Below me, are two men standing across from each other. One looks like Yami and the other looks like Kaiba. If this is a duel between them, then why was I called here? _

_"Ha Ha Ha! Look at the almighty Pharaoh now! It seems your prosperous kingdom has crumpled under your feet, and is in the merciless grip of the Dark One." The Kaiba one says. "So how does it feel to be powerless?"_

_I notice that he has the Millennium Rod and the one that looks like Yami has the Puzzle around his neck. "How dare you speak that way in front of the Pharaoh! He has done nothing but lead his kingdom, and now you've betrayed him!" I notice a woman that looks like Ari is standing behind the Pharaoh. She mostly stands in the shadows so it's difficult to see._

_Is that why I'm here? Because Ari was witnessing this battle centuries ago? "That's enough. Now, why have you chosen his side over mine?" the Pharaoh asks the Kaiba lookalike. _

_"That's where you're wrong Pharoah. My minions and I have no allegiance with the Dark One. But we don't have an allegiance with you either. I'm here to finish our battle and prove that no man can overpower the Millennium Rod."_

_"Even in my darkest hour, I shall defeat you!"_

_"Then let this duel begin Pharaoh! The moment I've been waiting for is here! My legacy will live on as 'he who defeated the Pharaoh'! Now time to call upon my most trusted creature!"_

_A tablet behind him rises and Blue-Eyes White Dragon appears. A tablet rises behind the Pharaoh and he calls forth the Dark Magician. This must be the battle Ishizu spoke of, the same one on that tablet. Before I get to see the battle though, the same portal sucks me back in and drops me in complete black again._

_"That was an interesting battle." I look over to see Ari a few feet away from me._

_"Huh? Ari, you saw that too?"_

_She nods, "I'm part of you, remember? But our connection is being limited."_

_"What do you mean?"_

_"We failed against Marik, so I took the price. Unfortunately, you were also affected."_

_"So, I'm in the Shadow Realm?"_

_"No. Your mind is drifting between the dark and light. I appeared to help you. I'm going to help you go back into the light."_

_"But what about you?"_

_"I'm not sure. My fate rests in someone else's hands. I'm only here to help you." Her forehead glows with the Eye of Wdjat on it and an opening of bright light appears behind me._

_"Ari? Ari!" I say as it drags me in. _

My eyes open with a start. I look around and notice the gang is standing by the window to my right and I'm attached to a bunch of monitors. I'm lying in a bed wearing just my jeans and white tank top. My black shirt is sitting on the table next to me. I reach up to my mouth and take the breathing mask off, which actually makes it easier to breath now.

I start to unplug all the monitors from my body, causing them to start beeping like crazy. The gang turns around, "Sabrina, you're awake!" Tea says.

"Where am I?" I ask.

"After the duel with Marik, we took you back to the blimp or jet now. You were out cold; I don't think you were even breathing."

I look to my left and notice Mai is lying in the bed next to mine, but she's still unconscious. "Well, I am now." I look at the table my black shirt is on, but I don't see the Pendant, "Where's the Pendant?"

They stop cold. Joey steps forward, "Well, after ya passed out, Marik grabbed it. He said it was da price for you losing." He says.

It's g-gone? Ari, that's what you meant when you said your fate, is in another's hands. Tears well up in my eyes and then I punch the table next to me, causing the vase on it to rattle then fall on the floor and break. "I-I've lost her." I say.

"Who? What are ya talkin about?" Joey asks.

"My other self. Ari. She lives inside the Pendant. And now Marik has her. Damn it!" I say as tears fall from my face.

They all just stand there and watch me cry. Tea sits on the bed, "Sabrina, it's alright. Yugi will get her back. We've just got to have faith." She says.

"Where is Yugi?"

"Dueling Kaiba."

I scoot over to the edge of the bed and begin to put my shoes on and my black shirt and start to wipe away my tears, "What are ya doing?" Joey asks.

"I want to watch his duel. I'm going to see if I can help him out somehow."

"You can't!" Tea says, "You just woke up! We've all been worried sick about you, and now you think you're perfectly fine?"

"I won't be until Ari comes back. But if I'm there to cheer Yugi on, then maybe he'll have more of a chance at beating him. I'll see you guys later." I run out of the room and head down the hallway. Two guys and a stretcher pass by me, which were probably called here to help me when I was still unconscious.

I head to the exit and then run over to the Duel Tower. I look up at the top to see a coliseum at the top. Does Kaiba really need to do that? I open the door to the tower and head for the elevator. I head inside and push the button for the roof.

It seems like this elevator is taking forever though. Once I finally reach the roof, the doors open and Yami and Kaiba's duel is still going on. Yami has Red-Eyes and Dark Paladin on the field while Kaiba is using his Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon to attack. "I've won!" Kaiba says.

"Not quite Kaiba, I still have one face-down card left. I've been destined to defeat you since the beginning, and this card will prove it; reveal De-Fusion!" Yami says. The Ultimate Dragon changes back into Kaiba's three Blue-Eyes.

"Now I play Diffusion Wave Motion! By giving up 1000 Life Points, my Dark Paladin can attack and destroy each of your Blue-Eyes at once! This duel is over Kaiba, Dark Paladin, attack!"

Kaiba's Life Points drop to zero and he loses. The coliseum disappears and the dueling field lowers. Yami turns around and looks at me, I walk up to him. "You're awake?" he says.

"Yes. That was a good duel." I say.

He nods and then looks sad for a moment, "Your miss her, don't you?" I ask.

"Yes. But now, I have more of a reason to beat Marik. He'll pay for all those he has hurt."

**The swearing I put in there is like a one-time thing. I prefer not to swear, and I don't plan on adding any more in this fanfic. But for me, that one just kind of fit with it. It's still hard to belive that I'm almost at the end of Battle City, but Yugi vs Marik is going to probably be really long.**


	32. Destiny is Fulfilled

~Sabrina~

I now know how Yugi felt when the Puzzle was shattered by Bandit Keith. I feel lonely inside, and the fact that I lost Ari the way I did doesn't help either. Kaiba gave Yami Obelisk, but with much hesitation. Ishizu showed up a few minutes ago. The duel between Yami and Marik is only moments away now. Marik wears the Millennium Ring and Pendant around his neck, which just makes me more angry and saddened.

"Yugi, take this. You'll need it." Kaiba says throwing him a card.

"What's the meaning of this Kaiba?" Yami asks.

"That's for you to figure out. If you want to win this, then use it, and don't rely on your pathetic fan club."

"What?! Yugi, toss that card right off the tower! It ain't worth your time!" Joey yells.

Yami places the card in his deck and begins the shuffle it. "Kaiba, we might not always agree, but I trust you." He says.

"Attention, the last duel of the Battle City tournament is about to begin, the match is Marik Ishtar versus Yugi Muto! Duelists, prepare your cards!" Roland announces.

They begin to shuffle their decks, "I've been waiting for this moment my entire life Pharaoh!" Marik says.

"Yes, but I will reign victorious. The entire world, and the fate of my friends, relies on it." Yami says.

"Let's let the fun begin now Pharaoh!" Marik lifts up his Millennium Rod and the Shadow Realm appears above us. "You've seen many of my Shadow Games, but this one will be much different. Time to meet my next victims!"

A cloud of shadows appears next to Yami and Marik. The cloud disappears, "Yugi?!" Yami says. He's binded in mid-air next to Yami.

"Lose and he goes to the Shadow Realm. But, he's not the only one. My weaker self is involved in this too. Now let's start this duel, I summon Vampiric Leach in attack mode, and then use it to attack you directly!"

Yami is down to 3500 Life Points. "As you've probably figured out, my Leach can attack instantly. And when you lose Life Points, your other self loses a portion of himself."

Yugi yells in pain as a part of his right leg disappears. "And it's still my turn, so I use my Leach's other ability to discard one card from my hand to put him into defense mode. So I choose this one, and then I play one card face-down. Now go."

"Don't worry Pharaoh, we can go this together!" Yugi says.

Yami nods, "Alright I play my Queen's Knight in attack mode! Now attack his Leach! And then I'll play two cards face-down and end my turn." He says.

"HA! I've drawn just what I need! But before I use it, I summon Juragedo in attack mode! Now destroy Queen's Knight! And as my final move, I place another two cards face-down."

Yami is down to 3300, making Yugi lose part of his right arm. Yami draws, "Activate trap; Left Arm Offering!" Marik says, "This card allows me to add one magic card from my deck to my hand. So I'll take Monster Reborn!"

"Activate Exchange! So choose a card and hand over Monster Reborn!" Marik takes De-Fusion, "Now I continue my turn by using Monster Reborn to bring back Queen's Knight! Then I summon King's Knight in attack mode! By having both of them on the field, I can summon this; Jack's Knight! I end my turn."

"I'm not impressed. My move, I activate Card of Sanctity allowing both of us to draw until we hold six cards. Then I switch Juragedo into defense mode. Then I'll set one card face-down."

"I'll sacrifice all three of my monsters, so I can summon Slifer the Sky Dragon! And since I'm holding six cards, it gains 6000 attack points. Now attack my beast!"

"Reveal Dark Spell Regeneration! And I choose to take Monster Reborn from your Graveyard, allowing me to summon my Winged Dragon of Ra! Arise my beast, show them your mighty Phoenix Form!"

"But you forget about Slifer's ability! Since you summoned a monster, its second mouth activates, allowing it to destroy Ra!"

"Nice try Pharaoh, but Ra is too powerful for Slifer! Now by giving up 1000 Life Points, I can rid the field of Slifer! And now Ra returns to my Graveyard. Then I play Zombie's Jewel, now I can place Monster Reborn back into my hand. But this card also allows you to draw one card, so go ahead."

Yami draws his card and then sets it, and ends his turn. "My move," Marik says, "I play Monster Reborn! Now I can bring Ra back to the field once again! Now I shall activate his most devastating ability! Now I transfer all by one of my Life Points to Ra, and by sacrificing Juragedo, I can add his attack power to Ra, giving it a power of 4699! Now, attack him directly my almighty creature!"

"Not so fast Marik, I activate the card that Kaiba gave me, Fiend's Sanctuary! Now meet my Metal Fiend Token, this can take any damage that I would've taken and then send it right back to you Marik!"

Ra charges up its attack and fires, leaving a cloud of smoke behind. Is it over? "Nice try Pharaoh, but you've failed!" Marik appears with 4700 Life Points, "By using my De-Fusion magic card, I separated myself from Ra and canceled my attack. And now Ra returns to my Graveyard and then I set another face-down card."

"My move, I pay 1000 Life Points to keep my Metal Fiend on the field. Now I reveal Multiply! Using this magic card, I can gain two more Metal Fiends. Then I sacrifice all three of them in order to summon my second Egyptian God Card; Obelisk the Tormentor! Obelisk, attack Marik directly!"

Marik is down to 700 Life Points. "Impressive Pharaoh… but it will take more than that to stop me! I guess you've forgotten who really suffers when I lose Life Points; my weaker half. So feel free to attack us again Pharaoh! But you've gotten yourself into more danger, for letting me lose more than half of my Life Points, you allowed me to play this; my Metal Reflect Slime! Now this card will transform into Obelisk and get equipped with 3000 defense points! Now meet Egyptian God Slime!"

Yami sets a card, its Marik's turn now. "Now I summon Revival Jam in defense mode! And by using my Polymerization card, I can fuse it with Egyptian God Slime! It's your move, so go ahead and attack it."

"Very well, I play Big Shield Gardna in defense mode! Now Obelisk, destroy his Egyptian God Slime!"

"Nice try, but like Revival Jam, it can't be destroyed! How naïve of you to fall for such a thing! Now it's my turn again, I set one card face-down and then summon Bowganian in defense mode! And while this card is on the field, you lose 300 Life Points during the end of each of your turns."

"Alright, I place a card face-down and then I sacrifice Big Shield Gardna in order to summon Dark Magician Girl! Now, attack Bowganian!"

"Not quite, now observe as I activate Jam Defender! As long as this card is in play, my Egyptian God Slime will take the hits and then this one will backfire!" The attack fails and Yami is down to 1300 Life Points. Bowganian's effect then drops him to 1000.

Tea shakes for a moment, "What's wrong Tea?" I ask.

"Hold on, listen, please." She says, "You must destroy my dark side at all costs, don't worry about protecting me."

"What are ya talkin about Tea?" Joey says.

"There's no time, I've borrowed your friends' body in order to reason with you. So I beg of you, destroy my evil half and let the shadows take me! Forgive me Pharaoh; I resented my duties as a Tombkeeper, thus creating my darker self. "

I look over to the good Marik, whose body is more than halfway gone, and his eyes are slightly open, different from when he was unconscious moments ago. "Marik, please don't do this!" Ishizu says.

"Too late, sister. Alright, win this duel and destroy him, no matter the cost!"

"How pathetic, you really think he'll forgive you? I've already been created and now your body is mine! Time to continue this duel Pharaoh, so I activate Mining for Magical Stones! Now I can discard two cards to add Monster Reborn to my hand!"

"Just make your move Marik. But it won't make a difference, I'll still defeat you!"

"Or so you say, I play one card face-down and then summon Swallowtail Spike Lizard in defense mode!"

"Yugi better hurry if he wants to end this before Ra is played." Duke says. "But he still has the dilemma of weather to risk Marik's good side or not."

"If that creep even has a good side! Now get out of Tea's body, so Yugi can destroy both sides of ya!" Joey says.

"Joey, stop." I say.

"It's alright. I deserve it. I was only trying to persuade Yugi to destroy me, since my body is in no shape to do so. I just hope he can find a way to defeat my dark side." Tea turns back to normal, "Hey, did I just doze off?" We all ignore her as the duel continues.

"My turn, I summon Gazelle the King of Mythical Beasts in defense mode! Then I set two cars face-down and end my turn." Yami says.

"And your Life Points also drop to 700 due to my Bowganian. First, my Spike Lizard gives me 1000 Life Points with its ability. Next, I activate Monster Reborn to bring back Winged Dragon of Ra! Then I give up 1000 Life Points to destroy Obelisk the Tormentor!"

"Wrong! I activate my Monster Reborn to bring back Slifer to shield Obelisk from your attack!"

"Humph, well now Ra will return to the Graveyard. But he's going to return right away, with this card; Surprise Attack from Beyond! Now I can repeat the attack I just did. It's now locked in his sphere form so stand back as I recite the ancient chant! Great beast of the sky, please here my cry. Transform thy self from orb of light and bring me victory in this fight. Envelop the deserts with your glow and cast your rage upon my foe. Unlock your powers from deep within so that together we may win, appear in the Shadow Game as I call your name; Winged Dragon of Ra!"

"Now I transfer all but 1 of my Life Points to merge with Ra! Next, I transfer all the power of my monsters to Ra. "

"I activate Soul Taker! This card gives you 1000 Life Points, but allows me to sacrifice one of your monsters, so I choose Egyptian God Slime! And since it's made up of two monsters, I can use both of them to give to Obelisk as a source for infinite power! Obelisk, destroy all of his monsters, and destroy Marik with it!"

"Well, I sacrifice Bowganian and Spike Lizard and 1000 of my Life Points to transfer their power to Ra! And then I activate Class System! And now, only monsters with more stars than Ra can destroy it, and Obelisk is no exception. And now that Obelisk loses its infinite power, I can attack it and win!"

"Not exactly. I activate Magical Dimension! Now I sacrifice Gazelle and Obelisk to summon my Dark Magician! Now for my final card; Ragnarok! Now watch as every monster within my deck comes forth to destroy every monster you control, including Ra who at the moment is fused with you!"

"HAHAHAHAHA! You forget that my weaker side will take the price! So go ahead and break your promise to Ishizu and destroy him as well!"

Master Marik! I shall protect you!"

We look over to see Odion standing by the staircase. How did he wake up? "Master Marik, don't give up! There's still time!" he says

"Just look at you! You can barely stand! And you expect to overpower me? Not a chance! Now stay out of this!" Marik says as the Millennium Rod sends Odion backwards.

Odion gets right back up though, "Master Marik, we overpowered him before and we can do it again!"

"AH!" Marik yells. The spot where his right eye is missing is filled in with one of the good Marik's eyes. "No! I won't go down like this! I am the true Marik!" the good Marik takes over, "Pharaoh, attack now! Do it! I can't hold him back much longer!"

"Don't listen to that fool!"

"Do it!

"Shut up!"

"Please, Pharaoh, save the world!"

"Alright, Marik, I'll fulfill your wishes. Now Ragnarok, destroy all of his monsters!" Yami says.

The sky lightens and all the monsters in his deck appear. Obelisk and Slifer grab a hold of Ra and lift it into the sky. Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl then both deliver the final blow. A blast of light appears and a cloud of smoke appears around Marik.

The smoke disappears and the good Marik is left standing there shaking. "It's over Marik, your evil side has been destroyed." Yami says.

"Pharaoh, one task is left." Marik says as he throws off the cape he was wearing, "I still have 1 Life Point left."

The eye of evil Marik appears next to him, "Marik please, we can rule the world together! You wasted your life serving this fool and now we can change that! We'll rule this world as the new Pharaoh with all three Egyptian God Cards!"

"I'm sorry Pharaoh. I can't change my past, but I can reshape my future. I'm proud to be a Tombkeeper now. So, with that said, I will forfeit."

His evil side is destroyed and the Shadow Realm disappears. Yugi goes back into his own body, but Yami still takes over. "The duel has ended; therefore the Championship Crown goes to Yugi Muto!" Roland says.

The dueling field lowers and we all jump u there to greet Yami. "Great job Yugi, and now you get your opponents rarest card." Mokuba says.

Marik walks up to us, "Yes, here, take the Winged Dragon of Ra. And everyone I have sent to the Shadows is now free. And Sabrina, I believe this is yours." He says holding up the Pendant.

~Ari~

"Thanks Marik." I say as the Pendant is around my neck.

"Your back!" Yami says as he hugs me.

"Pharaoh," Marik says. Yami separates from me as we look back at Marik, "There's one thing left I need to show you." He takes off his shirt and turns around to reveal the same markings that were on that tablet at the museum, "These markings were passed down my family for generations."

"We were taught that when the Pharaoh saved the world, he wiped his memory clean. His wife followed him in order to protect him. They both knew that the same evil would return and would need their memory back one day. So the Pharaoh entrusted the Ishtar family with the powers he needed." Ishizu says.

"It's time for us to leave now. Take my Millennium Rod, I have no use for it now. And also take the Millennium Ring."

"Alright geeks, the Battle City tournament is over!" Kaiba says, "So if you want a free ride home, then you better board my aircraft! In one hour, this island will blow up, and the Kaiba Corporation is not responsible for your deaths if you're left behind!"

"But the engines are damaged!" Tea says.

"Not anymore. Right Roland?" Mokuba says.

"I.. err… well."

All of us exit the tower and head over to the blimp. We decide to go straight to Mai's room. Joey opens the door, "Serenity, is Mai awake?" he asks.

"No. She still hasn't said a word."

"Come on Mai! Wake up! I'd do anything to have ya back!"

I then notice one of her eyes open. She and Serenity then burst out laughing. "That face was priceless Joey! Great acting Serenity!" Mai says.

"Thanks!"

"Eh, I'm hungry, let's go to the kitchen." Joey says.

We all head over to the kitchen and open the door. We walk inside to see Bakura sitting on the floor eating, "Oh hey guys, sorry but we're fresh out of donuts."

"Bakura, how did you even get on the blimp in the first place?" I ask.

"Hmm… you know, I don't remember." He says as he stuffs his face with a banana.

"Attention passengers, we're unable to take off due to engine failure. Please remain calm; we're working as fast as we can." Roland says.

You mean, we're stuck here?

**Oh gosh, that took forever. But hey, I'm done with it. More cliffhangers, yay! And this chapter is probably crazy long isn't it?**


	33. Departing Ways

~Ari~

"What do ya mean da engines don't work?!" Joey yells at Roland.

"They're still down from when we escaped that explosion. We're working as fast as we can. But we won't take off until Mister Kaiba and Mokuba are present." He says.

"Oh great, perfect time for Kaiba to go missin! Come on guys; let's find him so I can beat him up!"

Joey doesn't even wait for our approval though before making his way off the air craft. I guess the rest of us have no choice but to follow him. Duke, Bakura, Mai and Serenity stay behind though, along with the Ishtar's. Joey keeps mumbling about how much pain Kaiba is going to go through if he doesn't show up. "Joey, we get it. We'll find him." Yami says.

"And besides, do you really think Kaiba would lose a fight to you?" I say.

Joey frowns since he knows I'm right, "Well, I can dream can't I? Let's just start looking."

We search around the rubble of the island, but Kaiba and Mokuba are still nowhere to be found. The doors to the tower is locked, so I'm not sure if it automatically closed after we left, or Kaiba just didn't want anyone to go inside. The search continues until we estimate that we have about fifteen minutes left. "Hey guys!" Bakura shouts.

He and Duke come running toward us from the blimp. "You guys better have some good news." Joey says.

"Not exactly. The engines are still down. I'm guessing you haven't found Kaiba yet, right?" Duke says.

"No, he might be in the tower though. The doors are locked, and even if we got them open, who knows if we have enough time to search the entire thing." Tea says.

"What are we gonna do?! I don't wanna die!" Joey yells.

"Wait, couldn't we just take that helicopter over there?" I ask.

It's the one that came for Sabrina when she was in a coma. "Um, why didn't we think of that sooner?" Joey says.

"It doesn't matter! Now we've got to warn everyone inside the blimp and hurry up!" Tea says.

"Right!" Duke and Bakura run back to the blimp to warn everyone.

The rest of us go inside the helicopter and wait for the others. "Hey, thanks for falling unconscious!" Joey says to me. "Then we wouldn't have gotten dis 'copter."

I'm not really sure how to respond to that, "Your welcome?" I say.

He laughs. Roland and the other guard step inside the helicopter. The rest of the gang and the Ishtar's then come onto the helicopter, "We've got thirty seconds left. Hopefully Mister Kaiba found another way off. Start the engines!" Roland says.

The helicopter lifts into the air, but we're not far away enough yet. I kind of feel bad for Kaiba and Mokuba though. What if they can't escape? "Ten seconds left." Roland says.

The helicopter is now a pretty safe distance away from the tower. We watch out the windows as the tower begins to explode. The rest of the island starts to go up in flames, along with the top of the tower. "Kaiba… why?" Yami says.

"Do you think he was suicidal?" I ask.

"Then why would Mokuba be left behind?" Joey asks.

This makes all of us puzzled. "Hey, what's that?" I say.

Out of some of the smoke comes a Blue-Eyes White Dragon. "Wha-?"

It lifts into the air and floats next to us. I look at the head to see glass at the top. Through the glass, I can see Mokuba waving at us and Kaiba laughing. "WHAT?! HE HAD A PLAN ALL ALONG!" Joey yells. Well, I'm glad that they're okay, but that was a pretty nasty trick.

The radio at the front of the helicopter starts speaking, "Yeah, we're both alright." Mokuba says through it.

Joey runs up to the radio, "Kaiba, how about ya land so I can beat ya to a pulp!" he yells.

"Sorry Joey, we're not going to land with you guys. We have some Kaiba Corp business to attend to." Mokuba says.

"Are ya planning another tournament?"

"You'll just have to find out Wheeler." Kaiba says.

The radio goes silent and then their Blue-Eyes Jet turns in another direction. I know we'll never see the last of them. "We should be able to land in Domino before nightfall." Roland says.

We all sit cramped in the helicopter for hours until we finally make it to the pier. The helicopter lands and lets us off and then takes off again toward the hospital it came from. The sun sits low in the sky and the water sparkles like gold.

"Pharaoh," Ishizu says, "I want to thank you once more for saving my brother. And now you can finally work on your journey to recovering your memories."

"Pharaoh, you helped me conquer my demons, and for that I am truly grateful. I hope that now we may become friends. And when you're ready to return to Egypt, I'd be happy to help guide you two." Marik says to Yami and I.

"Okay, Marik. I hope we'll meet again soon." I say.

"Best of luck." Yami says.

The three Ishtar's nod and then head over to the boat that Marik arrived in Domino on. They board and then moments later start heading back on their journey back to Egypt. "I guess it's time for all of us to say our goodbyes." Duke says. "I have to head back to my game shop and start updating Dungeon Dice Monsters. Here Serenity." He says slipping her a sheet of paper.

Duke walks away; Tristan grabs the piece of paper, "Hey! He slipped her his phone number! Come back here dice boy!"

In the distance we can here Duke chuckling, but makes no move to come back. "Here Serenity." Tristan gives her a slip of paper and we have a pretty good idea of what it is.

"Back off Tristan! No one's going out with my little sista' while I'm here!" Joey yells.

We all laugh. "I guess it's my turn now." Mai says.

"Your leaving too Mai?" I say.

"The open road calls for me. I came here for Battle City and that's over, so now it's time to move on."

"Thank you Mai, you've done so much for us." Serenity says as a tear slips down her face.

"I should be thanking you Serenity. You were the one who always stood by me while I was trapped in the Shadow Realm. And Yugi, the next time we meet, we're going to duel."

"Of course, Mai." Yami says.

Mai walks away and Joey then chases after her. "What a stud." Tristan says.

"You're one to talk." Tea says.

"Well, I… um, I'll see you guys around."

Tristan leaves, along with the rest of the gang. This just leaves Yami and I. "Ready to head home?" I ask.

"Yes. I'm glad that now we'll have time to uncover the secrets to our past." He says.

"It's not going to be easy though."

"I know." He then turns toward me, "But we'll figure it out together." He leans and then kisses me.

**I'm going to put up one more Battle City chapter, because there was an episode that came after this one. After that, I can finally work on the Waking the Dragons arc. And when my computer broke, I lost the file of the cover image, so I thought, why not make another? I'm pretty sure this one will be permanent though, since I've already changed it like three times.**


	34. Looking Ahead

~Sabrina~

It was nice to finally be back home. And to sleep in my bed and not have the threat of a psycho trying to send me to the Shadow Realm. I woke up even before the sun rose this morning and grabbed the phone. I promised that I'd call when I got the chance, but I've been way too busy. She shouldn't be too busy, its evening there and early morning here.

I dial the number and wait for her to pick up. "Hello?" she says.

"Kirsten, it's me." I say.

"Sabrina? Oh my gosh, you haven't called in forever! I was afraid that you forgot about me!"

"No Kirsten, I didn't. I've just been really busy lately, and gotten into tons of trouble."

Kirsten, my long-lost cousin that I lived with in America always wants to know all the details, so I figured I would start with the Duelist Kingdom tournament. I haven't even gotten the time to even talk about that. After finishing my story about that, I move onto Battle City. I left out the part about Yami and Ari though because it would probably just make her head spin in confusion. I did however; tell her about me being put into a coma, even though she was way too confused about that.

"So, are you sure you're alright?"

"I'm fine. I'm just glad I had time to call this time."

"Well you better call again soon. Give me an update if you decide to date one of your friends. What were their names again? Yugi, Joey, and Kaiba?"

"Kirsten, I'm not going to date them. Heck, Kaiba doesn't even count me as a friend!"

"Yeah, but, it doesn't hurt to try."

"Kirsten, I'm hanging up now."

Without her saying goodbye, I just hung up. I can't even really think of dating any of them, they all seem like brothers to me. Besides Kaiba, he's just a jerk. I hear footsteps coming down the stairs and then see Yugi standing there, dressed and with his Duel Disk at the ready. "Where are you going?" I ask.

His eyes dart over to me, probably because he didn't notice I was here, "I-I have something unfinished to do." He says.

I smile, "Good luck."

"Thanks."

With that said Yugi walks out the door. I'm not sure who I should root for in that duel. Today's going to be rather busy. Tea asked me to help her show Serenity around town a bit before she has to leave. I get up from the kitchen table and start pouring myself a bowl of cereal.

I know it's still really early, but I'm too awake right now to go back to bed. I grab my bowl and walk over to the living room. I sit down on the couch and watch the blank TV. I don't want to turn it on because I might wake up Grandpa. After I finish my cereal I put the bowl in the sink and then head back upstairs to my room. I don't know what to do now though. Its 6:00 am and Tea said for me to meet her at 9:30.

I just decide to go back to sleep. I wake up again at eight and start getting ready. I take a hot shower and then start to get dressed. I put on a black pair of pants and a white t-shirt with thin red stripes. I brush my hair and put it into a ponytail. By now, it's around 8:30. It's too early to leave the house.

I just sit on my bed and stare at the Pendant. I'm glad I have it again. When Ari was gone, I felt like a wreck. But one day, I know she'll have to leave for good, so I should prepare myself for that. I then hear a knock at the door. I head downstairs and open it. "Hey Sabrina!" Tea says. Serenity is standing behind her.

"Hi guys, I think I lost track of time. You ready?" I say.

"Yeah. Where should we start first?"

We start by walking through the park. "Thanks again for taking me around town guys. This is the first time I've seen this place in years!" Serenity says.

"No problem. We had nothing better to do anyway." I say.

"Yeah, and you've got the perfect tour guides with you. How about we go to the Domino Museum?" Tea says.

"Yeah! That sounds interesting!"

We take her there and begin to look around. I decide to take them to where the stone tablet is, since that thing is such a big part of us now. Without anyone looking, I open the door and we start to head down the stairs.

The tablet still stands where it was before. I also notice the smaller one that describes Ari. It's still hard to believe that she had a daughter back then. "So, this is the tablet everyone is talking about?" Serenity says.

"Yep. It describes Yugi's destiny to save the world. I suppose it's not all that special, but it certainly gives answers." I say.

After her and Tea are done admiring it, we decide to move on. Tea takes us to a part of town that looks rather empty. "This is where Joey faced Espa Roba." She says.

I never saw the duel, or really knew anything about it. I just knew that Joey won. "Oh yeah! I was in the hospital and Tristan was giving me play-by-plays of it!" Serenity says.

"Speaking of Tristan, which one are you going to call? Him or Duke?" Tea says giggling.

"Even if I tried calling one of them, I'm pretty sure Joey would break my phone." Serenity says.

We leave and start making our way over to the pier. I know where Tea is taking us and I really don't want to come here, but if Serenity is fine with it, then I guess I will be too. "Isn't this where I saw Joey duel for the first time?" she asks.

"Yeah. This was one of the worst days of my life." Tea says.

There's nothing left of the field they dueled on except the walkway. "But I suppose pain wasn't the only thing that came out of it. You gained courage that day Serenity, and you helped Joey gain back some of his spirit." I say.

I remember how depressed Joey was when he finally came to his senses. I'm glad Serenity helped him gain back what he needed to keep going. I guess this proves that even painful memories can come with a good outcome. Just like the future, it will always shine brightest at times.

We move on and take Serenity to some of the shops around town. We even take her shopping for clothes. The time then comes around when she needs to be at the train station to head back home. Waiting at Domino Station is Joey, wanting to see her once more. The others said they were busy today, but made sure they said goodbye. "Hey sis, ya ready?" Joey says.

Serenity nods, "Tea and Sabrina were great tour guides Joey! It's a shame that I have to leave though."

"Serenity, you can always come back anytime. We'll all be waiting for you. And you're a part of our group, so you'll never be that far away." I say.

"Yeah Serenity, don't be shy about it." Tea says.

The time comes when the train is ready to depart. Serenity hugs Tea and I goodbye and then says her warm goodbyes to Joey. She gets on the train and it starts to leave. Joey waves, but looks like he wants to cry, "You okay there Joey?" I say.

"What are you talkin about? I just have something in my eyes." He says rubbing away his tears.

"You can't play the tough guy forever Joey." Tea says.

"Eh, I gotta go. I'll see you guys soon." He says.

Tea and I then separate as well. I wonder when all of us will be able to see each other again. But that's for the future to decide. And no matter what, we'll all stay friends. This makes me feel better about Ari one day leaving us. I know that no matter what happens next, we'll stand by each other and always stay as best friends.

** I don't know if anyone remembers the mention of Kirsten in the first chapter of Duelist Kingdom, but I kind of recapped that. I know, I updated this chapter rather quickly. But now I have to worry about gathering ideas for Waking the Dragons. It may not take me too long, but who knows? And I'm glad I finished my goal of doing season 2 and 3 before school starts. Heck, it's not even August yet!**


End file.
